What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?
by Kristen Elizabeth
Summary: The Cullens face a threat that could rip their newly-formed family apart and forever silence the sweetest voice amongst them. Jasper/Alice, pre-Twilight.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: This story stands on its own, but it could also pick up right after one of my shorter pieces, "You'll Never Walk Alone." Either way, I thank you so much for stopping by to read. This will be the first multi-chaptered story I've written for Twilight, and I hope you'll enjoy the first part enough to come back next time!

* * *

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?

by Kristen Elizabeth

* * *

**1950**

There were so many befores and afters in Alice's life.

Before, when she was human, the time she couldn't remember. After, when she was a vampire, and the blood lust consumed and confused her.

Before she met Jasper, when she was all alone save for the visions in her head. After she met Jasper, when she knew what it felt like to love and be loved.

Before the Cullens, when it was her and Jasper against the world. After, when she had a family and a home.

Before she went shopping with Esme. And after...

"It's a Givenchy," the saleswoman told Esme as they both watched the petite girl stare at herself in the store's three-sided mirror. "Just arrived from Paris last week. Stunning, isn't it?"

The dress was far too formal for any practical use, but Esme nodded, still closely following her newest daughter's every move. It was their first shopping trip together, but judging by the pure delight written all over Alice's pale face, she had a feeling it would not be their last.

"We'll take it. As well as all the others." With a casual wave of her hand, Esme indicated the two racks of expensive clothes Alice had tried on before she'd laid eyes on the strapless ivory gown.

"Of course, Mrs. Cullen!" The saleswoman was already adding up the total in her head from her look of flabbergasted delight. "And will you be buying anything for yourself, ma'am?"

Esme shook her head. "No. Today is all about my daughter."

"Oh, but you hardly look old enough! More like her sister than her..."

It was nothing she hadn't heard before, whenever she was out with Rosalie. With a polite smile, Esme excused herself and left the woman to begin tallying up their purchases.

Unable to tear her eyes away from the gown and its intricate mother-of-pearl beadwork, Alice didn't notice Esme coming up behind her until her new mother put her cool hands on Alice's bare shoulders.

"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," Alice whispered. A shadow crossed her face. "But...it's too much, right? It has to be. It's too incredible not to be worth thousands!"

"Shh." Esme squeezed her gently. "I told you money is no object. Besides." She reached up to touch a spiky lock of Alice's hair. "It'll make the most wonderful wedding gown."

Alice dropped her gaze to the carpeted floor. "It would, wouldn't it?"

Esme frowned at the sudden change in her daughter's mood. "Did I presume too much? Have you and Jasper already had a ceremony?"

"No." When she looked back up, Alice's hesitated. "We're not engaged." Her chin quivered ever so slightly. "He's never asked."

"Oh, I see." There was silence for a moment as Esme digested this news in relation to the eternally devoted couple who had so recently joined her family. "Well, perhaps that's only because he wanted to give you a home first. And now that you have one..." She smiled reassuringly. "I'll get to plan your dream wedding very soon."

Alice tried to return the smile, but couldn't quite make herself. "I wish I could see that." She looked back at her reflection. "All I see is this dress on a hanger in the back of a closet." Reaching for the row of tiny buttons in the back, Alice shook her head. "I can't let you buy it." She stopped, holding her hands still behind her back. "But..."

"But?" Esme prompted.

An impish smirk turned up the corners of Alice's lips. "I really, really love it."

"Then the decision to buy it has already been made," Esme said firmly. She grasped Alice's hands; it didn't take much effort to pry her fingers away from the buttons. "You should see that. Yes?"

"Yes," Alice admitted with a happy sigh. "We're going to buy it, no matter what."

Esme nodded, satisfied. "All right then." She smiled at their reflections. "Your first trip to New York and you find a Givenchy." Turning Alice around, Esme folded the girl up in a motherly embrace. "Oh, we're going to have such fun together, Alice!"

It was impossible to feel anything other than warmth and love when in the circle of Esme's arms. Glancing back at the mirror, though, Alice barely recognized herself. Who was the woman in the thousand dollar gown being hugged by her loving, adopted mother? Where was the girl with no memories and only a single, faded dress and a few pairs of denim pants to her name?

She wasn't sure, but she sensed her life was now another "after."

After she discovered how designer clothes could make everything seem perfect.

Esme and Alice left the shop empty handed, having arranged to have their many purchases sent straight to their rooms at the Plaza Hotel, and walked freely down Fifth Avenue, protected by a cold cover of winter clouds. Arms linked, wearing full-skirted dresses in navy and grey, their pale faces impossibly beautiful against a backdrop of skyscrapers, they received more than just a few stares, even amidst the bustle of the busiest city in the country.

But neither of them noticed a pair of dark red eyes watching their every move from a safe distance.

* * *

"It's not so much about overcoming the craving. The craving will always be there; it's simply a part of who we are." Sitting across from the newest member of his family, Carlisle spoke with all the wisdom of his three hundred years. "The key, Jasper, is in learning how to control it. So it doesn't control you."

Control. Looking down at his hands, Jasper stifled a bitter chuckle. If only it was as easy as Carlisle made it seem. Just control the craving. Don't think about how dry your mouth is...how your venom feels slick on your teeth...how good the humans smell...how their blood slides down your throat and...

"Hey." On the other side of the room, Edward sat up straight on the duvet he'd been sprawled out on as he watched the snow fall outside. "I'd rather not have to go to school tomorrow with that in my head, thank you."

"Edward," Carlisle gently chided his son. "I know you can't help it, but neither can he." He looked back at Jasper. "Sometimes it helps to share what you're thinking, to know that you're not alone."

"I think I've shared enough." As if he could escape the kid's intrusive power just by putting distance between them, Jasper stood up and walked to the large hearth. He wasn't sure who had lit a fire, but it seemed like a waste. It wasn't as if any of them needed the heat. "It's getting late," he said, looking at the clock on the mantle. "Weren't they supposed to be back by now?"

Carlisle glanced at his watch. "If they decided to wait out the storm in New York, they would have telephoned to let us know. I'm sure they'll be back soon."

"Unless the lines are down," Edward reminded them. For that, he received another chastising look from his father. "I'm only accounting for all variables."

"Perhaps all variables don't need to be accounted for," Carlisle retorted with more bite in his words than he ever normally displayed.

Jasper braced his hands on the intricately carved wooden mantle. No wonder Emmett and Rosalie had left that morning for a short vacation. Everyone in the house was on edge. Alice had only been gone for three days, but it was the longest they'd been apart since they'd met. In her absence, his anxiety had grown to the point where it was affecting others.

He wanted to apologize, but the words died on the tip of his tongue. If Edward didn't have to be sorry for listening to his thoughts, then he didn't have to feel bad for making them all feel bad.

Turning around, he caught Edward's eye, and it was clear from the look on the boy's face that he'd read that thought, too. Jasper shook his head. "I need some fresh air." Without any further explanation, he left the study and stormed out the front door.

Although the storm wasn't anywhere near a blizzard, it was still going strong, dumping foot after foot of snow all across the woods just outside of Bethel, Maine. Standing outside in just his shirt sleeves, Jasper felt no differently than he had in front of the crackling hearth. He was numb to cold or hot, ice or fire. Everything in the world seemed dull when Alice wasn't at his side to appreciate any of it.

The loud crack of a branch nearby instantly snapped Jasper out of his thoughts. With the senses of a well-trained soldier, he scanned the snowy forest, searching for the source. There was nothing, no movement except for the wind through the stark trees.

Still, in the very back of his mind, the instincts that had seen him through so many battles all screamed one thing.

He was being watched.

Jasper was just about to head into the woods when he saw headlights shining through the snow. The pressure that had been building in his chest since Alice had waved goodbye to him as she headed off with Esme suddenly drained away. She was home.

Esme parked the big black Cadillac just in front of the house, but even before the car came to a complete stop, Alice was already tumbling out the passenger side door. He met her halfway, lifting her off her feet without a word. With her arms wrapped around his neck, Alice buried her face in his shoulder. They remained just like that for a long time, long enough for Carlisle and Edward to emerge from the house.

While Esme and Carlisle embraced, Edward eyed the boxes and bags that took up the entire back seat of the car. "Are there any clothes left in New York?" he asked dryly.

"There's more in the trunk," Esme told her son. "And, yes, we'd love your help carrying them inside, thank you for asking."

"Did you miss me?" Alice whispered in Jasper's ear.

He closed his eyes and breathed in the sweet scent of her hair. "Every single second felt like a year."

Carlisle broke their moment. "Come on. Let's get everything inside. The storm's only going to get worse."

With great reluctance, Jasper set Alice back down, but smiled when she laced their fingers together for the short walk back into the house. Just before they crossed the threshold, Jasper gave the woods, and whoever...or whatever was in them, once last glance over his shoulder.

* * *

Their room was covered in layers of silk, wool, tulle and lace. The contents of the New York shopping spree had been unboxed and spread out; there were clothes draped over every stationary object. In fact, Jasper himself had only escaped serving as a temporary display by clearing off a tiny section of the bed where he planted himself to watch Alice's impromptu fashion show.

"This is Dior," she informed him, holding up a calf-length black skirt with dozens of skinny pleats and a cream-colored jacket with a peplum waist. "It's called a bar suit."

He nodded dutifully. "Bar suit. Dior. Got it."

"Balenciaga," Alice continued, this time showing him a tailored grey wool suit and matching skirt. "This I could probably wear to school."

Jasper said nothing. School was a sore subject. He was nowhere near ready to attend, and although he would never take the experience away from her, the long hours they spent apart while she was in class with Edward and Rosalie and Emmett were torture for him.

As if sensing that his mind was elsewhere, Alice set the Balenciaga aside. "You're probably thinking that I did all of this shopping and completely forgot to get something for you." Carefully making her way through the piles of clothes, Alice approached the bed, toying with the sash of her terrycloth robe. "I didn't."

The robe slipped off her shoulders and fell to the floor around her feet, revealing a practically-transparent white silk negligee that did little to conceal the soft swell of her breasts. He swallowed heavily.

"This one doesn't have a name," Alice murmured. "But when I saw it, I thought of you."

Jasper held out his hand to her and when she took it, he pulled her down onto his chest with one gentle tug. Rolling her onto a pile of skirts and blouses, he kissed her, savoring the feeling of her small, soft body beneath his.

Alice's hands delved into his hair, twisting bunches of it around her fingers as their mouths ground together. Breaking the kiss, she threw her head back on the pillow; Jasper's lips immediately found the sensitive spot just under her jaw.

"Jazz," she moaned. "The clothes..."

With all the patience of a man who'd been without his mate for three days, Jasper rose up on his knees and began tossing articles of clothing off the bed, not caring where they landed. When they were all gone, he dove back into Alice's embrace with a hunger he'd never known before her.

Starving for each other, they made love fast and hard, building up to a mutual explosion which left them both panting for breath that neither of them really needed. Still joined, Jasper looked down at the woman who, in only a few short years, had become his reason for existing.

"I love you, Alice," he said unnecessarily. Lowering his head, he brushed a kiss against her swollen lips. "Marry me?"

He felt her freeze, heard her breath catch in her throat. "Oh!" She pressed a hand to her mouth; her golden eyes looked back and forth between his as if searching for confirmation. "You didn't plan this," she said a moment later. "Are you sure it's what you want?"

"Yes." Jasper smiled, suddenly sure of himself. "I want to be your husband."

As he said the words out loud, Alice saw it all in her mind. Flashes of their wedding, the dress that now hung in Esme's closet...a warm spring evening...flowers...candles...and Jasper at the end of the aisle. Waiting for her.

The sound of his laughter filled the room as Alice flipped him onto his back and began kissing every single one of his scars. It was enough of an answer for him.

Soon, the laughter faded and the passion renewed. Their bodies entwined once again, this time meeting slowly and sweetly, drawing out every sensation, savoring each moment of pleasure.

Neither of them were aware that they had an audience on the other side of the frosty window. Oblivious to the freezing temperature, the figure stood in the snow, watching, until dawn began to lighten the dark sky.

* * *

To Be Continued

A/N: I'm taking some creative liberties in this. The House of Givenchy wasn't established until 1952. Oops. Forgive me?

For a picture of Alice's dress, go to http : / img . photobucket . com / albums / v510 / belismakr / alice dress 2 . jpg . And I'm sorry for all the spaces, but this was the only way this stupid thing would let me put it in.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: If you read/reviewed the first chapter of this story, and you came back for more, I appreciate it so much. I hope you keep enjoying yourself. If you're here for the first time, welcome and thank you!

* * *

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?

by Kristen Elizabeth

* * *

By morning, the storm had passed on, leaving the woods around the Cullen house draped in a white blanket of new snow. Jasper couldn't help but be a bit disappointed. The roads were clear and although the sky was still overcast, school had not been cancelled.

Alice, however, was thrilled about showing off her new wardrobe. She chose the grey Balenciaga, a bit dressy for classes, but since the Cullens were already the talk of town for their gorgeous faces, expensive cars and secluded mansion, she figured there was no point in holding back.

Jasper came up behind her as she dabbed on lipstick and slipped his arms around her tiny waist. "What if it starts to snow again and they try to keep you in town until it passes?"

"It's not going to snow," she said confidently. She quickly searched the future. "Not until...tomorrow. Evening." Turning around in the circle of his arms, Alice studied his face. "Do you want me to stay home today?"

As much as he wanted to say yes, Jasper couldn't bear to be responsible for erasing her smile. "No, go to school. Show off your Bagleycena."

"Balenciaga." She gave him a quick kiss that left a fine sheen of gloss on his cheek. "Someday, Jazz, you'll come with us. I promise."

Because she needed to believe it, he nodded. "Someday."

Edward called up from the bottom of the stairs just then, interrupting their kiss. "I'm leaving in one minute, Alice, whether you're in the car or not!"

"The kid's getting on my nerves," Jasper muttered.

Laughing, Alice shook her head. "Now aren't you glad you're staying home and he's going to be out of the house for a few hours?" He lifted his shoulders nonchalantly. "I know it hasn't been easy for you here." She worked her lower lip between her teeth. "But this is the best place for us. And you will feel at home..."

"I know." Jasper tried to smile, but it came out weak. "Someday."

Their lips had just met again when... "Alice!" Edward yelled.

With a reluctant sigh, she stepped back from her lover; her hand remained entwined with his until they were too far apart to keep contact. At the door, she blew him a goodbye kiss.

* * *

They took Edward's Jaguar Mark V to school, racing down the mountain to the town below without a thought to the slick, icy roads. With Emmett and Rosalie still off on their spur-of-the-moment vacation, Alice found herself alone with her new brother.

_Edward? _She called to him through her thoughts.

He didn't take his eyes off the road. "Yes, you can copy my math homework. It's in my bag."

_That wasn't my question. Some mind reader you are. _Alice giggled, but then stopped when she realized she never had finished the algebra assignment and would, in fact, need to borrow his. _Oh, I see what Jasper means now_, she scowled.

Edward finally glanced over at her with an amused smirk. "What was your original question?"

She sighed. _Should I be worried about him? He seems so...overwhelmed lately._

It took her brother a moment to reply, as if he was deciding how much of Jasper's inner thoughts he felt comfortable repeating. "He's struggling, but he wants this, Alice. Maybe he only wants it because of you, but at least he's got motivation to succeed."

Alice looked down at her gloved hands. _I forced this life on him._

"No, you didn't," Edward scoffed. "Even though it is next to impossible to say no to you, and I should know, considering I no longer have the best view in the house, I bet he'd manage to do it if he really couldn't stand our lifestyle." Placated by this, Alice turned her head to stare out the window at the trees zipping by. "By the way." She glanced back at her brother who offered her a smile. "Congratulations on your engagement."

Instead of returning the smile, Alice's eyes glassed over as a vision seized her. "Edward, watch out!" she screamed.

Having seen the image in her mind, a dark shape that darted out of the woods and ran directly in front of their car, Edward was able to slam on the breaks a few seconds before the vision became reality. He twisted the wheel at the last moment, sending the Jaguar careening into a snow bank on the side of the road. By that time, the cause of the crash was long gone, having disappeared into the forest as quickly as it had appeared.

"What the hell was that?" Edward demanded, swearing for the first time ever in front of a woman. "Sorry," he immediately apologized.

Alice shook her head. "I don't know. I couldn't see it clearly...just that it was coming. A deer, maybe?"

"Let's find out." As his side of the car was completely buried in snow, Edward urged Alice to exit on her side and crawled out behind her. The road was deserted and the night's snowfall had been plowed away to allow access from the town to the logging camps on the mountain. But the white banks on either side of the road, like the one his Jaguar now occupied, were still pure, and it was there that he found a set of human footprints leading into the woods.

"Not a deer," Edward announced. "Probably just a local still drunk from last night, stumbling around like an idiot."

Alice frowned. "Whoever it was, they weren't stumbling, Edward. They were fast. As fast as..." She didn't need to finish the thought. He was already thinking it.

Taking a slow look around at the silent winter forest, Edward put a protective hand on his sister's back. "Get back in the car."

Once she was inside, Edward grabbed the Jaguar's chrome bumper and gave it an effortless yank, dragging it out of the snow bank with no more force than he used to pull open the door to his locker at school. Without even taking the time to examine his beloved car for any damage, he slid behind the wheel and took off down the road.

Alice snuck a glance at him a few minutes later. A deep frown marred his otherwise perfect face. _If it is another...you know...should we go back and tell Carlisle?_

"There's really nothing he could do," Edward replied, his voice as dark as his expression. "When we come across one, it's better to just leave them alone, rather than risk starting some kind of territory battle." He looked at her. "I'm sure you've heard all about those."

"Yes." She inclined her chin. "I've been made aware of them."

"And the last thing we want is to do anything that might provoke the Volturi," he said, almost to himself.

"The Volturi?" Alice repeated.

Edward turned the car into the parking lot of the high school. "Conversation for another day." He pulled into an open space and turned off the engine. "Just...be aware. Not all of our kind are to be trusted."

Alice sat in the car until he came around and opened the passenger door for her. For the first time since she'd woken into her new life, she felt horribly cold.

* * *

The main hallway of Bethel Hills High School was packed with what seemed like the entire student body, each one of them making the most of the final few minutes before the first bell rang. The sounds of wet shoes squeaking on polished hard wood, lockers endlessly opening and shutting, high-pitched female laughter and deeper male guffaws bounced off the walls.

But everything slowed when Edward and Alice arrived.

They were still the talk of the school, something that amused Edward and pleased Alice. As they sailed down the hall, aided greatly by the fact that anyone who happened to be in their way quickly moved, she couldn't help but listen to the whispers all around them.

"What is she wearing?" a girl from her Home-Ec class whispered to her friends. "She looks like she belongs in a catalog!"

"Dig it," a football player elbowed his buddy in the chest. "I hear she goes all the way. Her sister, too. It's make-out city up at that house of theirs."

"Oh my gosh!" one cheerleader groaned. "Edward Cullen is the living end!"

"Total dreamboat," another cheerleader agreed with her. "Do you think he'll ask anyone to the Winter Formal?"

Alice shot her brother a mischievous look. _Are you going to ask anyone to the Winter Formal? _

Edward snorted. "You slay me, Alice."

They parted ways at their lockers, heading for their separate homerooms. Alice took her seat just as the first bell rang, ignoring the fact that the girl who was seated to the right of her desk not-so-discreetly scooted her chair as far away as she could. It was probably for the best, she told herself. With the heaters on full blast, blowing hot air all around the classroom, it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep a safe distance from the humans, especially since she hadn't hunted in almost a week.

"Excuse me?" It took Alice a few seconds to realize that the question was directed towards her. "Is this one taken?"

The girl asking about the empty desk to Alice's left was no beauty queen. Her hair was lackluster brown, pulled back from a slightly pudgy, pimple-dotted face. She wore a simple skirt and sweater set which did nothing to hide her ample figure. In fact, her one redeeming feature seemed to be her eyes. They were clear blue, framed by dark lashes.

But she was talking to Alice. Voluntarily. And she didn't look frightened, only painfully shy. Alice couldn't help but feel for her; she still clearly remembered her own first day at Bethel Hills and how, despite the warnings from her brothers and sister, she had been crushed when not a single one of her new classmates even bothered to speak to her.

"No, please." Alice indicated for her to sit down.

"Thank you so much," the girl said with a relieved sigh. It took a second for her to fit her body into the desk, but when she was finally seated, she held out her hand. "I'm Marjorie."

Experience had taught Alice that it was best not to shake hands. Even with winter as an excuse, her skin was just too strangely cold to the humans. "Alice," she introduced herself.

If she was hurt that Alice didn't take her hand, Marjorie didn't show it. "It's my first day here," she explained. "I don't know anyone at all. Except you now. I mean, not that knowing your name makes us best friends." She chewed on her lower lip. "Sorry. I talk a lot when I'm nervous."

There was something endearing about the girl's awkwardness. Alice smiled. "It's all right."

"I love your outfit!" Marjorie gushed, eyeing the grey wool skirt with longing. "Where did you get it?"

"Oh, just..." Alice hesitated. Showing off suddenly lost its appeal. "Nowhere special."

The second bell rang, ending their conversation. After dutifully reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, the teacher began calling roll. Alice glanced over at the new girl. She'd pulled a book from her bag and had her nose buried in it. When Alice caught a glimpse of the title, she nearly laughed out loud_. Dracula._

It was a good thing she hadn't shaken Marjorie's hand.

* * *

The only class she and Edward shared was fifth period History. He was already seated in their usual corner when Alice entered the room. She was heading straight towards him when she heard her name called out over the din of the other students.

"Alice!" She didn't have to look to know who it was. So far, she had four classes with Marjorie. "I saved you a seat!"

Alice glanced at Edward. _She's new. She doesn't know anyone else._

Edward raised his eyebrows.

_Don't be like that._Alice frowned. _I feel bad for her._

Her brother shrugged his shoulders.

_Just because you don't like any of them doesn't mean I can't make a friend or two._ Turning her nose up at him, Alice slid into the seat next to Marjorie. "Thanks," she said to the girl.

"Who is that?" Marjorie asked, looking at the back corner of the room. "Your boyfriend?"

"My brother," Alice corrected her. "Just ignore him." She shot Edward a glare over her shoulder. "He likes it that way."

But Marjorie was only human and completely vulnerable to Edward's face. "Your parents must be movie stars or something."

"Or something," Alice agreed.

In the back of the room, Edward coughed loud enough to make several girls giggle.

The teacher had barely begun the lesson on the American Revolution when a vision struck Alice.

It was like nothing she'd ever experienced. There was no clear image, just random shapes and colors all blurred together. And there was pain...mind-numbing, skull-splitting pain.

Edward bolted to his feet when Alice screamed out loud. Although he slowed his movements just enough as not to give himself away, he was at her side in the blink of an eye. By that time, the vision and the pain had overwhelmed her; her body jerked frantically as if she was having a seizure.

"Someone get the nurse!" the teacher yelled. But the room had descended into chaos, desks literally up-ended as everyone sought a better view of the unfolding scene.

"Alice! Alice...look at me," Edward ordered, fighting back panic. Her eyes were open, but she saw nothing. She didn't even seem to be aware of his presence. "Alice!"

Suddenly, her eyes closed and she went limp. He caught her as she fell out of her desk.

"Get the nurse!" the teacher tried again. Edward gathered Alice up in his arms and started for the door. "Where are you taking her, Mr. Cullen?" the teacher demanded.

"To our father," Edward replied, fixing a cold look onto the woman that made her shrink back ever so slightly. "Can I go now?"

He didn't wait for her permission. Seconds later, still cradling his sister's unconscious body, Edward was out the door, heading for the parking lot.

Back in the classroom, the girl who'd had a front row seat for the entire dramatic event smiled faintly.

* * *

Jasper took a deep breath. Through the scent of pine and smoke from a nearby cabin's fireplace, he caught a whiff of what he'd gone into the woods to search for. Blood.

"I smell it, too," Carlisle said, coming up behind him. "Elk, most likely." He indicated the direction in which the smell originated. "Shall we?"

Although he was thirsty, Jasper didn't move. "You didn't have to come," he told the older man. "You hunted just the other day."

"I thought you could use the company."

"You think I need supervision."

Carlisle sighed. "Jasper, I have no doubt that you would do everything in your power to stop yourself if a human happened to cross our path right now. But..."

"Why risk it?" Jasper finished, folding his arms. "Right?"

A moment passed. "You have to trust that everything I'm doing is to protect not only the humans, but our family itself."

"Our family?" Jasper repeated.

"Yes," Carlisle said firmly. "Our family. Of which you are now a part." A shadow crossed his face. "Whether you feel that or not."

"Carlisle!"

Esme's voice reached them before she did. She appeared in the clearing a second later, not a hair out of place although she'd apparently run all the way from the house, not having even taken the time to put on a coat for appearance's sake. Her face spoke a thousand words before she said anything. Something was seriously wrong.

"It's Alice," was all she said. "Come quick."

Jasper was already running.

* * *

To Be Continued

A/N: If you'd like to see Edward's Jaguar, go to http : / img . photobucket . com / albums / v510 / belismakr / jaguar . jpg


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: Thank you so, so much to everyone who's read/reviewed so far. Your kind words keep me going.

* * *

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?

by Kristen Elizabeth

* * *

Everything he thought he knew about hell was wrong.

Hell wasn't a burning purgatory like the sermons of his youth had claimed. Hell wasn't a blood-soaked battlefield strewn with the twisted bodies of your friends and enemies in grey and blue. Hell wasn't the excruciating burn of a vampire's venom as it slowly killed what had made you human. Hell wasn't even denying yourself the one thing in the world that would ever truly sate your thirst.

Hell, Jasper now knew, was seeing the beautiful, irreplaceable, supposedly indestructible woman you loved lying unconscious on the very bed in which you'd made love to her only hours earlier.

Frozen with both hands braced on either side of doorway, it was all Jasper could do to keep from tearing the frame away from the wall. "Alice," was the only word he could form.

"I don't know what's happened to her." Standing over Alice's unearthly pale, absolutely still body, Edward answered Jasper's unspoken question. "But she's still here...somewhere. She's not..."

The wood beneath Jasper's hands splintered under the pressure of his angry grip. "Don't even think it," he snarled. Before Edward could reply, Jasper was kneeling at the side of the bed. "Alice?" He took her cold hand between his, as if he had body heat that might warm it. "Alice, open your eyes, darlin'. Please..." Jasper swallowed heavily. "Just open your eyes."

He felt a hand on his shoulder, too large to be Esme's. "Jasper." Carlisle's voice was quiet, but firm. "Let me look at her."

But he couldn't move, couldn't let go of her. What if he released her and she slipped away? What if she never opened her eyes again? How could any of them just expect him to trust them with the most important thing in his world? What did he have to live for if he didn't have Alice?

"Jasper, please." A much smaller hand gently touched his other shoulder. Esme leaned down, surrounding him with the faint scent of flowers. Her hair was soft against his cheek as she gently urged him to his feet. "He'll take care of her," she murmured. "We love her, too."

Just as their fingers had remained entwined until the last second that morning, Jasper held Alice's delicate hand until he'd backed up too far from the bed and could no longer hold on. Her arm dropped back to her side as Carlisle took his place and began examining her.

"Tell us exactly what happened, Edward," he asked his son.

"I don't know," he said honestly. "I couldn't see anything. It was like her mind was a blank slate. In class, she was...she just started screaming. And then she just...collapsed." Frustrated, he plunged his hands into his hair, ruining its careful styling. "I know it sounds impossible, but she was in pain, Carlisle. Real pain."

Esme held onto Jasper as he tried to jerk forward, desperate to reach Alice again. "Shh," she tried to soothe him. But the anguish he projected was palpable; she could feel despair seeping into her heart.

As gently as he could, Carlisle pried Alice's eyelid open, revealing nothing but dull yellow without a spark of life. _What can I possibly do for her?_

Edward stared at him. "There has to be something," he said out loud.

_But what? _Carlisle reached for her wrist. _She has no pulse to check, no breath to maintain, no reflexes to test. She's quite literally a dead body. _

"Maybe that's all some of us are," Edward said quietly. "But not her."

"Stop it!" Despite the woman's strength, Jasper pushed his way out of Esme's arms. "Don't do that! Don't fucking do that!" He pointed an accusing finger at Edward. "Don't stand around, having some goddamn mental conversation while Alice is..."

"Jazz?"

All eyes in the room immediately shot to the woman on the bed as her lashes slowly lifted. Alice blinked several times as she searched for his face. "How come you're at school?" she asked him.

Ever the doctor, Carlisle put a hand to her forehead. "You're not at school anymore, Alice. Do you remember what happened to you?"

Her perfect lips pulled into a frown. "We were in history class. Mrs. Baker was talking about the battle of..." She thought for a second. "Concord. I had...I think I had a vision."

"Of what?" Edward asked.

She shook her head. "I don't know." Panic slapped her across the face. "I don't know!" She sat up frantically. "Jazz...I can't remember!"

He had her wrapped in his arms within seconds. "It's all right, Alice." Jasper held her tight as she buried her face in his chest. The great wave of relief that washed over him had the others unconsciously relaxing as well. "Everything's all right now."

For him, it was the truth. Alice was awake and aware and it would be a long time before he let go of her again.

But Carlisle wasn't as easily placated. He glanced at Edward. _This doesn't feel over._

Edward closed his eyes for a second, silently agreeing.

_Did anything else odd happen today? Anything at all?_

After a second, Edward jerked his head ever so slightly towards the hallway. Carlisle glanced at his wife and waited for her nod of understanding before discreetly following his son out the door.

In the hall, Edward briefly described their incident on the road to school that morning. "Alice barely saw it in time. But the fact that she saw it at all..." He glanced back into the room. "Didn't she tell us that her visions are based on what people decide to do?"

"That's what she said. Which would mean, whatever..."

"Whoever," Edward corrected him.

"It was a decided, deliberate action," Carlisle finished. He paused for a long moment. "Do we know where Emmett and Rosalie went?"

Edward shrugged. "Some lodge in the Catskills. I think Esme has the name of it."

"Let's see if we can telephone there. Have them come back."

"Carlisle, what do you think is going on?"

His father shook his head slowly. "I don't know. Maybe nothing. But I'd feel better if we were all together right now."

* * *

"I was terrified."

Jasper's voice broke the silence that they had lapsed into hours earlier, when Esme had quietly left them alone. They had barely moved since then, neither one of them ready to let the other go.

Alice curled her fingers around the lapel of his shirt, her cheek pressed against his collarbone. "I'm sorry, Jazz," she whispered.

He kissed her hair. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. I just...I've never had to really stop and think about what my life would be like without you." Jasper stared across the room, seeing nothing but image of her deathly still body that had been burned into his memories. "Today I did. And it was..." He stopped to collect himself before his leftover fear could affect her. "I could lose everything else, Alice. But if I lost you..."

Drawing back, she pressed her fingers to his mouth before replacing them with her own lips. It was a soft, chaste kiss, but far from passionless. "You're never going to lose me," she promised.

Jasper touched his forehead to hers. "I want to believe that. But you know better than anyone that the future isn't always clearly defined."

"It's defined by what we decide," Alice reminded him. "And I decided a long time ago that you and I will never be apart." Her nose crinkled merrily; it was an expression that never failed to make him smile. "So, that's that, okay? Today was...I don't know what today was. But I don't see it happening again."

"You didn't see it happening before, either." Her sudden frown made him sigh. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for."

Alice lowered her eyes. "I'll keep a better eye on the future from now on. Maybe I could have seen it coming." Jasper cupped her face in his long, slender hands. "I am sorry," she said again. "For scaring you."

He gave her a long, slow kiss. "Forgiven."

Although Alice would have been fine kissing him for the rest of the night, a week without blood had left her with a painful thirst that, perhaps as a result of her ordeal, suddenly seemed overwhelming.

Breaking the kiss, she took his hand and entwined their fingers. "So, will you come hunting with me?"

"Do you really feel up to that?" Jasper asked, smoothing her dark hair back from her temple. She nodded emphatically. "All right," he agreed.

Alice gave him a peck on the cheek before scrambling off his lap. "Just let me change first. Can you tell Carlisle?" Heading to her closet, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror over her dressing table. "I didn't even get to wear this a whole day," she pouted, touching the beautiful grey wool skirt.

"You can always wear it again, Alice."

She stared at his reflection in the glass. "I've already worn it once."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Can't it be washed?"

Alice frowned as if this was a foreign and, frankly, unappealing suggestion. "But...I've already worn it," she repeated.

"Of course." At the door, Jasper looked back at her with a smile of love and amusement. "What was I thinking?"

* * *

"Stay close to the house," was Carlisle's only request when Jasper informed him of their hunting trip. "I realize that sounds paranoid, but..."

Jasper held up his hand. "No, I understand. We won't go far." With a nod, Carlisle returned his attention to the papers on his desk. When he noticed that Jasper hadn't left, he glanced back up. "I was...upset earlier," Jasper said stiffly. "I lost control. Spoke without thinking." He cleared his throat. "I want to apologize, especially for cursing in front of Esme."

It was Carlisle's turn to stop him. "Had I been in your position today, there's no telling what I might have let slip." He smiled. "Apology accepted."

Jasper lingered for another moment, as if he wanted to say something more. But at the last second, he changed his mind and left the study.

Edward was seated at the grand piano in the far corner of the living room when Jasper entered. Although the boy's hands rested on the keys, he had yet to play a single note. He watched Jasper cross all the way to the stairs before he spoke. "Do you have any enemies?"

Jasper turned to him slowly. "Just what do you mean by that?"

"Enemies," Edward repeated, playing a few somber notes. "Anyone who would want to hurt you." He hit a C chord with more force than necessary. "Through her."

"Why don't you look in my head and find out?"

Ignoring Jasper's dangerous tone, Edward kept playing. "The first day I met her, Alice told me I was going to love her. And she was right." He looked up at Jasper. "She's my sister now. I will defend her with my very life. But it would help a lot if I knew exactly what I might be up against."

Jasper approached the piano silently. "I'm only going to say this once, so let me be clear. If Alice is ever in any danger from me or anyone from my past, I would rip my own limbs off and set myself on..."

"Jazz?" Alice came down the stairs, dressed in form-fitting khaki riding breeches and a dark blue blouse. "Are you ready to go?"

Still locked in an unblinking stare with Edward, Jasper inclined his chin. "Yes, ma'am."

Alice glanced back and forth between them. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." Edward looked away first, returning his attention to his piano. "Be careful out there."

Jasper reached for Alice's hand. "Come on. I'd like to be back before dark."

As they started for the door, Edward launched into a jaunty rendition of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," unable to bite back a grin even in the wake of Jasper's deadly parting glare.

* * *

The elk put up a good chase, but in the end, it was no match for Alice. She took down the much larger animal like a lioness on the wild fields of Africa. By the time Jasper caught up with her, she had already drunk her fill, having only spilt a few red drops on the still-pristine snow.

"Did you catch your panther?" she asked, licking the corner of her lip. He nodded, unable to speak as a surge of lust jolted his whole body at the sight of Alice's tiny, pink tongue.

Her golden eyes grew wide as a vision of their naked bodies rolling on the snow suddenly appeared in the near future. "You don't think we can wait until we get home?" she asked.

Grasping her waist, he hauled her body up against his. "I think..." Jasper lowered his lips to her ear. "I want to be inside you, Alice."

He spoke with enough raw need to make her shiver. With her own senses so highly strung from hunting, she needed no further coaxing. Her arms looped around his neck. "As long as you promise..." He interrupted her with a kiss. Pulling back, Alice finished, "...we'll be back by dawn. I'll need time to get dressed for school."

Jasper's reaction was quick and left little room for interpretation. "You're not going to school tomorrow."

"I'm not?" Alice looked up at him in cool surprise. "When was that decided?"

"Right around the time Edward carried your unconscious body home." Jasper shook his head. "There's no way you're going back there until we know exactly what happened and are sure it won't happen again."

"Do I get a say in this?" Before he could answer, Alice went on. "Because as much as I love you and respect your opinion, we're not married."

"Yet," he added.

"And even if we were, this isn't 1860. If I can vote now, I can certainly decide when or if I go to school." Stepping away from him, Alice folded her arms over her blouse. "I know you think you're protecting me, but..."

"How can I protect you when I'm not with you?" he demanded. "You're away all day, five days out of seven, with Rosalie and Emmett and Edward." The last name came out on the tail end of a snarl. "You have this entire life that I'm not even a part of!"

His anger, his hurt, his frustration...she could feel each one coursing through her body, filling her with equal amounts of fury, pain and exasperation. Prompting her to shoot back, "You could be a part of it, you know! If you really tried, instead of just moping around, acting like a child who's lost his favorite toy!"

She regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth. They'd come out of nowhere; she'd never, even in the darkest places in her soul, so much as thought them before. But from the look on his face, it was too late. The damage had already been done.

"Something's going on," Alice whispered. "I don't...I can't see..." She took a breath. "I didn't mean..."

"Go back to the house, Alice." His tone was stone cold.

She took a step towards him. "Jazz..."

Although it was hard, Jasper turned his back to her. "I love you too much to talk to you right now." When she touched his shoulder, he started running, leaving her behind in the cold, wet woods.

* * *

Less than fifty yards deeper into the forest, a woman turned to her companion with a satisfied smirk. "That was almost too easy."

"While I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, my dear, let's not get overconfident." The man pulled at his chin. "They have complex minds, much more so than most, and a very strong bond. You've strained it. You haven't broken it."

Her red eyes narrowed. "Give me time."

"That wasn't a challenge," he said with more than a little warning. "We proceed as planned, no exceptions. Understood?" He waited for her reluctant nod before he turned to the girl on his other side. "She'll be in school tomorrow. You know what to do."

Bundled up in so many layers of clothes that her scent had all but disappeared, Marjorie nodded. "I'll try my best."

"There isn't any trying," he said, his voice sickly sweet. "There's succeeding and there's dying." He lightly bopped her exposed nose, like she was a very small child. "Those are your only two options."

She swallowed heavily, all too aware of her choices. "I won't let you down."

"Good." He smiled, showing off two rows of perfectly deadly teeth. "That's what I like to hear."

* * *

To Be Continued

A/N: To hear Edward's piano piece, go to http : / www . youtube . com / watch ?v = ZTikJKBMto8


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: Thank you ever so much for all the incredible feedback on this story. I am having so much fun telling it, and I'm so, so happy that you all are having fun reading it. Because this will probably be my last update before Christmas, have a great, safe holiday everyone!

* * *

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?

by Kristen Elizabeth

* * *

Emmett and Rosalie pulled up to the house just before dawn in Rosalie's blood-red Triumph Roadster. By the time Alice came downstairs, dressed for school in a drab black skirt and sweater that fit her dark mood, Carlisle and Edward had already filled her brother and sister in on the previous day's strange events.

They were all seated in the living room and from the way Rosalie looked at Alice with faint sympathy when she appeared, she immediately knew that the fact that Jasper had not returned with her from the woods had not gone unnoticed.

"Is he back?" Alice asked, already knowing the answer, but still clinging to hope. She sought out Edward's eyes for the most honest answer. But her brother wouldn't look at her, confirming her fears.

Rosalie reached her side just as Alice's shoulders sagged. "Men are such delicate creatures. You have to be so patient with them," she said, putting her arm around her sister. "Let him have his little hissy fit. He'll come crawling back soon enough." She glanced at her husband. "They always do."

Emmett grinned, flashing his dimples. "Should we feel insulted?" he asked the other men in the room. "Or is it just me?"

"It's probably just you," Edward said dryly, earning him a friendly punch the shoulder that would have crippled a human.

"He's out there all alone, Carlisle." Alice turned to their father, anxiety deeply etched on her perfect face. "I know you think it's not safe for the humans, but it's really not safe for him, either."

Carlisle nodded. "I know, Alice. I..."

She cut him off. "I should stay home. Be here when..." Her lower lip trembled. "...if he comes back."

"You can't see what he'll do?" Edward asked gently.

"No." Looking down at the hardwood floor, Alice shook her head. "I can't see him at all." She looked back up, her eyes pleading with her new family. "Anything could be happening. We have to find him!"

"You should go to school," Carlisle said with all the compassionate authority of a true parent. "I'll tell the hospital I'm not coming in today. Esme and I will search for Jasper."

Alice frowned. "No, I need to go with you. I have to..."

Rosalie's arm tightened around her. To the outside eye, it might have looked like a sign of sisterly affection, but Alice knew it was more of a silent restraint. "You need to be seen in school after what happened yesterday. The less gossip about us, the better." Her beautiful smile was slightly brittle. "I'd really rather not move for another couple of years." To this, Edward let out a soft snort. "Go ahead and think that I'm making this all about me, Edward," Rosalie snapped. "But I don't hear you disagreeing."

Meeting Alice's eye, Edward gave in. "Rosalie's not wrong. About this, at least."

_Traitor_, Alice accused him, narrowing her golden eyes.

He lifted his shoulder apologetically. "You just have to trust us, Alice. We've been living like this for a long time."

Deep down, she knew he was right, but she was just too upset to concede. "Won't everyone at school just assume that I'm at home sick?"

Emmett scratched the back of his head. "It's a really small town. Tongues wag over next to nothing."

"And don't want them wagging about us anymore than what can't be helped," Carlisle said. "If someone were to get truly curious..."

Edward finished for him. "It could attract unwanted attention."

"From our own kind," Rosalie added. "The Volturi don't always need a good excuse to..."

"Rosalie," Carlisle stopped her. "That can wait."

"Can it?" she challenged, tilting her head to the side, her blonde curls cascading over her shoulder. "How long do you think you can keep her a secret, Carlisle?"

Their father glanced at Edward. "For as long as possible." The clock on the far wall chimed out the hour of seven. "You should all go or you'll be late." Reaching for Alice's hand, Carlisle gave it a reassuring squeeze. "We're going to find him, Alice. And he's going to be just fine."

Although she heard the words, the comfort they were intended to provide couldn't penetrate the wall that her troubled thoughts had built up around her. She felt herself being led outside and put in the front seat of Rosalie's car, but her mind was far away, in the cold unknown...with the man she loved.

_Jasper, I need you_, she begged as if he could read her thoughts like Edward. Rosalie got behind the wheel and took off, not waiting for the boys in Edward's car. _Come home..._

* * *

No matter how many miles he put between them, home was the foremost thing on Jasper's mind. And home meant only one thing. Alice.

As dawn began to lighten the cloudy sky from an ink black to a muted grey, Jasper found himself at the bank of an icy stream that lazily twisted its way through the woods. It seemed as good a place as any to collect his thoughts.

As the stream was free-flowing, albeit heavy with chunks of floating ice, Jasper plunged his hands into the frigid water and splashed his face, washing away traces of blood on his lips. He'd stopped to feed during the night, remembering Carlisle's advice that being full, even of just animal blood, could make the thirst for human blood bearable.

Not that there were any humans this deep in the woods when the temperature was this low. Sitting back against the trunk of a tree, Jasper looked up at the criss-cross patterns of leaf-less branches. Winter was the season he was the least used to, having spent most of his near-hundred years south of the border, but he liked it. The world, like his own body, was frozen and fixed. Cold and unchanging. It was something of an unexpected comfort.

Or perhaps it had something to do with Alice's reaction to the first snowfall of the year. Closing his eyes, he could still see her spinning in circles in the driveway of the Cullen's house, white flakes clinging to the dark spikes of her hair as she laughed in delight. That night, with the wonder of the day still in her eyes, he'd lain in bed watching her watch the snow still coming down outside. He could stare at Alice every moment of every day for another hundred years and never grow tired of it.

What had they argued about? He couldn't even really remember anymore, like there was a dark veil over their last conversation and all he could recall were the feelings. Anger and shame and irritation and guilt. Things he'd never felt in relation to Alice before. She was the joy in his world. But something had caused him to run from that joy. All he remembered wanting was to lose himself in the solitude of the woods. He just had no idea where that need had come from.

Jasper was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even smell the man's blood until he heard his voice cracking the silence. "Hey, young fella." Opening his eyes, Jasper saw an older man approaching, a hunter judging by the red plaid coat and hat he wore and the rifle that was slung over his shoulder. "You lost out here?"

Tasting venom in his aching mouth, Jasper swallowed and shook his head. "No," he said, trying to project an air of disinterest. Anything to drive the man away.

But it either didn't work, or the man ignored the feeling. "You ain't even wearing a coat," he observed Jasper's thin shirt. He stepped closer and Jasper shut off the flow of air into his lungs to escape the man's scent. "Bet you're half frozen."

"I'm fine," Jasper said between his teeth. "I'd just like to be alone."

It was only when the man looked at Jasper's shirt again that he remembered the bloodstains that were still there from his last meal. "You're bleeding, son." The hunter knelt down. "You cut yourself?"

There were no witnesses. Nothing would ever connect him or the Cullens to this man's disappearance. If he stayed away until the red faded from his eyes, Alice wouldn't ever know that he'd failed her.

"It's nothing." Jasper concentrated his emotions, channeling fear and distrust now. Surely the man couldn't ignore his basic human instincts. "Just a scratch."

"Don't I know you?" the man suddenly said. Jasper's muscles tightened. "Your eyes..." He pulled at his beard. "You got the same eyes as that doc up at the hospital. Kelly. No...Coley."

Jasper closed his eyes wearily. "Cullen." It was too late for this man. Killing him would now be necessary to protect the family Alice loved so much. He'd been sentenced to death and his only crime had been being observant.

"Good man," the hunter declared. Jasper opened his eyes. "Delivered my grandson, he did. Just a few months back." He looked Jasper up and down again. "You his boy?" he asked skeptically, no doubt remembering Carlisle's young face.

"We're...related." Why hadn't he lunged? Why weren't his teeth buried in the man's neck? Why did the idea of killing this man, this kind grandfather who respected Carlisle, suddenly seem so repulsive?

The hunter stood up. "Well then, you'd better be gettin' home before he calls the sheriff." He chuckled. "I'll keep your secret for now. Least unless I hear someone's lookin' for you." Readjusting the strap of his rifle, the hunter headed off.

Jasper watched him go. Every instinct screamed at him to act quickly. Eliminate the threat and sate the thirst. Two birds with one stone. It wouldn't have even been difficult. The man might have been armed, but the rifle offered him no more protection than a feather.

But he didn't move. He just sat by the side of the half-frozen stream until the man disappeared into the forest. And after awhile, the scent of the man's blood faded and the ache in his throat subsided. He drew in a deep, clean breath.

Control. Maybe it wasn't such an impossible task.

Jasper stood up and started the long journey back.

* * *

The appearance of all four Cullens was more than enough to subdue the whispered gossip running up and down the main hallway of Bethel Hills High.

Rosalie and Emmett walked in first, hand in hand, sauntering down the hall like they owned the place. They were immediately followed by Alice and Edward. Although all eyes had been on Rosalie at first, like they always were, stares quickly swung to Alice as she walked beside her brother, trying her best to keep her chin high.

"They were all talking about you," Edward told her, speaking too fast and too low for anyone to even notice or hear. "But a few of them are actually concerned about your health."

Alice pursed her lips, still annoyed with him for siding against her. _I don't need you looking out for me, Edward._

"Perhaps not," he agreed mildly. "But since I can't exactly turn it off, you're stuck with it." He smiled at her. "Sorry, sis."

As they passed a group of senior boys, the sound of snickering was unmistakable. "Passed out dead away in class," one of them said just loud enough to make sure he was heard. "You know what that means."

"Knocked up for sure." Another boy made a rude gesture. "Bet it's one of her brothers. The skinnier one." At the exact same moment, the Cullens slowed down just a bit. Edward could feel anger bubbling up in his chest, threatening to spill over and put the kid's life in serious danger. Emmett's jaw clenched. Alice looked down at her shoes, hiding the shocked hurt in her eyes. But the jocks were too caught up in their joke to notice. "Not that I'd blame him. If my sister looked like that, I might..."

"Excuse me." The boy who'd been speaking suddenly stopped when Rosalie turned to him. She shook off Emmett's hand and approached the brawny teenager. "Were you talking about my sister?"

The kid looked at his friends out of the corners of his eyes. They were all quiet now, having taken a step or two back when Rosalie came too close. But she'd trapped the boy like a deer in headlights, refusing to take the full weight of her stare off him. "Um...I was just...talking," he stammered.

"About my sister," Rosalie repeated, her voice low and deadly. Shrinking back slightly, the jock mumbled something incoherent. "Could you say that again? I'm not sure everyone heard you," she demanded, never blinking as she kept staring straight at him.

"I'm sorry," the kid said just loud enough to be heard in the now-silent hallway.

Rosalie's smile was frightening. "Yes, you are." With a toss of her hair, she turned her back on him like he was no longer worth her time.

They had just started walking away when the boy, apparently afflicted with a subconscious death wish, hissed under his breath, "Stupid cunt."

Before anyone could stop him, Emmett's hand connected with the boy's shoulder and a fraction of a second later, the boy's back slammed against the locker. If he'd used his full strength, the boy would have been dead. Through the grace of Emmett's self control, the kid merely looked like he was about wet his pants.

Towering over him, Emmett bared his teeth in what could have passed for a grin if it hadn't been so terrifying. "Hi," was all he said. It was a warning that even the dumbest of teenage minds couldn't fail to comprehend.

All of the color had drained from the jock's face by the time Emmett backed up. Taking Rosalie's hand, Emmett glanced at his brother and shot Alice a quick, undetectable wink of encouragement. "Come on."

A wider path than usual was cleared for the Cullens as they continued down the hallway.

* * *

Rosalie walked Alice to her homeroom, insisting on coming inside even though it would make her late to her own class.

"I'm fine," Alice told her as they entered the room. Several hushed conversations came to a crashing halt. The scene in the hallway was already making the rounds. Weary of high school and suddenly wondering if Jasper hadn't been right about her staying home, Alice sighed. "Really, Rosalie, I'm grateful for what you did out there...but you can't stay by my side all day. You're a junior, not a sophomore."

"According to this..." Rosalie held up a handwritten slip of paper that bore Carlisle's perfect script. "One of us is supposed to be with you at all times today, in case you have another fainting spell."

"I didn't faint," Alice scowled.

"What did happen to you?" Suddenly serious, Rosalie pushed Alice down into an empty desk and took the seat next to her. "If there's something you held back from the others, you can tell me."

When she spoke, Alice's voice was carefully calm. "Why would I have held anything back?"

Rosalie didn't get a chance to reply. Just then, Marjorie entered, unwrapping a scarf from around her thick neck. Her eyes lit up when she saw Alice and she waved eagerly.

"Who's that?" Rosalie asked, her lip curling up in disdain.

"A new friend of mine." Alice glanced at her sister's expression. "Stop it. She might not be beautiful, but she's very nice. Just give her a chance." Rosalie's eyebrow arched. "At least be civil," Alice amended her request.

Marjorie flew to Alice's side as fast as her solid legs would carry her. "I was so worried about you," she confessed, her voice just a bit too loud. A group of girls nearby burst into laughter. "Are you feeling better? Of course you are," she answered her own question. "I mean, you wouldn't be here if you weren't feeling..." When her eyes shifted to Rosalie, she stopped, blinking at the older girl's perfection. "...better," she finished.

Rosalie smiled coolly. "Rosalie Hale," she introduced herself, offering Marjorie one slim, elegant hand. Marjorie's own fingers were damp with perspiration as she dumbly shook it. Rosalie sniffed the air, her eyes narrowing so slightly that only Alice caught the change in her expression.

"Rosalie was just leaving," Alice said, shooting her sister a look. "Weren't you?"

"In a minute," Rosalie said. Removing her hand from Marjorie's sweaty grip, she waved at an empty desk a few rows over. "If you'll excuse us, I'd like to speak to my sister. Alone."

A shadow crossed the girl's face, but she silently retreated. Alice glared at Rosalie. "That wasn't necessary. You've hurt her feelings."

"She'll live." Rosalie's eyes never left the girl as she plodded away. "She's...odd."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure." Shaking her head, Rosalie focused on Alice. "Let me ask you something. I have a French test this afternoon. Am I going to pass it?"

A few seconds ticked by as Alice searched the future. She could see Rosalie seated at her desk, conjugating verbs, but the answers she wrote on her test paper were unclear. Hazy. They could be right or wrong. She just didn't know. A cold thread of panic wove its way around Alice's heart.

"You speak French better than the teacher," Alice hurriedly answered, before her sister could get suspicious. "Of course you're going to pass it."

They watched each other for a moment before Rosalie slowly nodded. "I see." She stood up suddenly. "If Edward asks, I was with you the whole period." With that, she swept out of the classroom, nearly knocking over a boy on his way in. From the look of wonder on his face, he wouldn't have minded a bit.

Marjorie slipped into the desk Rosalie had abandoned. "Your sister is the most beautiful person I've ever seen," she said in awe.

Alice tried to smile, but just couldn't bring herself to make the necessary movements. Desperately missing Jasper, frustrated with her siblings, and worried about the dissipating state of the special ability she'd always depended on, all she could do was bury her head in her arms.

* * *

To Be Continued

A/N: To see Rosalie's car, go to http : / img . photobucket . com / albums / v510 / belismakr / triumph . jpg


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: I hope everyone had a great holiday. I actually got to write over the past few days, so I'm very happy. I hope it's not disjointed, considering I've been writing it in bits and pieces on two different computers. Anyway, thank you so much, again, for all the wonderful feedback thus far; it's helping to keep me focused and motivated and I appreciate it so much. Until next time...enjoy!

* * *

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?

by Kristen Elizabeth

* * *

Alice walked through the lunch line with all the enthusiasm of a diabetic in a candy store. On any other day, she would have skipped the hot lunch and just taken a carton of milk. But since Marjorie had followed her to the cafeteria from their fourth period biology class, she was forced to keep up appearances in front of the girl and accept a tray of lumpy mashed potatoes, dry meatloaf and pale carrots from the lunch lady.

Coming out of the line, she spotted her family on the far end of the room at their usual table. Rosalie was pretending to study for her French test with an apple perfectly posed in her hand. She must have discreetly ripped a chunk out at some point with her nails, as if she'd actually taken a bite. She was good at faking her way through the lunch period.

Edward wasn't bad at it either. Every now and then, he would lift his milk carton up to his lips, tilt his head back slightly, exposing his long neck, and pretend to swallow. This usually resulted in at least a few sighs from various tables and a scowl from Rosalie. Part of the reason they had to pretend to eat as often as they did was that Edward's presence almost guaranteed that at any point someone with a hopeless crush would be watching them.

But none of them could hold a candle to Emmett in this particular facade. Alice wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know where he put the food, but even the cafeteria ladies had commented on her brother's appetite.

Across the room, Edward caught her eye. She knew what he expected: that she would join them without question like she always did. But that was when she'd had no other options. Now, however, she did.

"You're probably going to go sit with your family, right?"

Alice glanced at Marjorie's resigned expression. "Actually, no. Let's sit together."

Looking back at Edward, she saw a confused frown darken his face. He said something to their brother and sister which prompted both Rosalie and Emmett to look her way, Emmett in puzzlement and Rosalie in cool dismissal. Tightly gripping her tray, Alice turned her chin up and took a defiant seat at nearby empty table. Marjorie happily sat down across from her.

"So are you going to the Winter Formal?" Marjorie asked, forking up carrots. "I bet you've had all kinds of offers, right? Or do you have a steady boyfriend? He must not go here if you do, because I bet I would have seen him by now."

"I have someone," Alice said, pushing her fork through her potatoes. Maybe if she moved some of them around, it might look like she'd taken a bite. "He's...older."

"In college, right?" Marjorie nodded as if this made perfect sense. "My mother always said it's better to marry an older man. Do you think you'll marry him? Has he asked yet, or is he waiting until you graduate? My folks got married the day after my mother graduated from high school. I probably won't, but you never know. I could meet someone."

It was easy to have a conversation with Marjorie. Very little talking was required.

As Marjorie went on about boys in the school who would make good husband material, Alice snuck a look at her brothers and sister. Edward was still frowning. He had two fingers pressed to his temple as if he felt a headache coming on. Rosalie was whispering something into Emmett's ear and judging by the look on his face, it probably wasn't appropriate talk for a high school cafeteria.

"You're not eating, Alice." Blinking, Alice looked back at the girl. Marjorie gestured to Alice's full tray of food. "Are you feeling all right? Do you feel another...you know...spell coming on?"

"No. No, I'm fine." Clearly, though, she was going to have to prove it. The mashed potatoes would go down the easiest...and be the easiest to get rid of later. Alice took a forkful, swallowed and tried to smile. The food felt like a lump of clay sliding down her throat. "I'm just not very hungry," she added. With any luck, she could avoid having to take another bite.

"This is probably why you're so tiny," Marjorie sighed with faint envy. "I really try to diet and I have lost five pounds! It's just so hard."

Concentrating on the girl's face, Alice reached for a vision. Would Marjorie ever win her battle with her weight? Would she find a boyfriend and get married? What path was her new friend on?

But no matter how she approached the future, all she saw was impenetrable black, a void without sound or color or emotion. It was like being blind, deaf and numb. And it made Alice want to scream.

She pushed back from the table abruptly. "I'm sorry. I need to..." She fumbled for an excuse. "Bathroom."

Running out of the cafeteria wasn't going to do anything to end the rumors that she was pregnant, but right then she couldn't have cared less. She didn't even glance back at her family on her way out. If she had, she would have seen that Edward now had his head in his hands while Rosalie and Emmett watched him with obvious concern.

* * *

Jasper heard his name on the cold wind. Although the voice was soft and sweet, it wasn't Alice calling for him as he emerged from the woods and approached the Cullen house. Esme was standing at the stoop, framed by the light from inside, her hands worriedly clasped together just under her chin. Upon seeing him, her beautiful face lit up and she flew down the stone walkway in her heels and pearls, mindless of the snow.

"Oh, thank goodness!" When she reached him at the second set of steps, she looked him up and down, thoroughly examining him for any signs of injury. "You're all right."

He wasn't exactly sure what she'd imagined might have happened to him, but he felt a strange warmth in the center of his chest. It had been a very long time since a mother had worried over him. "I'm fine," he assured her. "I didn't hurt anyone."

Esme shook her head. "Jasper, I have never and will never doubt you." She took his arm. "Now, come inside where you belong."

The house was silent and still, although a fire crackled in the hearth. "Where are the others?" he asked.

"Carlisle is out in the woods, searching for you." Esme hesitated as she took a seat on the living room couch. "Everyone else is at school."

Jasper cleared his throat. "Everyone?"

A moment passed. "She wanted to stay here. Apparently it took more than a little force to get her to go." She tried to smile apologetically. "They believed it was for the best. To avoid questions."

"And are questions being avoided when Edward drives into town in his Jaguar?" Jasper muttered.

Esme conceded with a nod of her head. "We take certain chances, I don't disagree. But perhaps just as you needed your space last night, Alice could use a distraction such as school right now."

He sank into a hand-carved chair. "I honestly have no idea what happened last night." Esme waited for him to go on. "We fought."

"And you never have before?" she guessed.

"Never." He frowned. "But I can't remember what the fight was about. One moment we were happy and the next..." Jasper stopped. "Is that normal?"

"I wish I could tell you. I remember every word of every quarrel Carlisle and I have ever had," Esme admitted. "Our first was over Edward. He wanted to leave us and Carlisle didn't try to stop him. I can't ever remember being as angry with him as I was then."

Jasper steepled his fingers in front of his mouth. "But you forgave him." He glanced away. "Will Alice forgive me?"

"With as big a heart as Alice possesses, there's no way she couldn't. Or wouldn't." She reached across the glass coffee table and took his hand. "You'll see." She studied him for a second. "For now, I'm just grateful that you found your way home. Because this is your home, Jasper, for as long as you want it to be. Nothing will change that."

They were words his own mother had not offered him. Leaving her house to join the army had meant leaving home forever. He had never been asked back. But here was this woman who had only known him for a few months, a woman who had already adopted two sons and now two daughters into her heart...but had decided, for some reason that was still escaping him, that she wanted to love him, too.

"Thank you," was all he could say. It seemed massively inadequate.

The sound of the front door opening broke the moment. Recognizing the footsteps in the hall, Esme rose and went to greet her husband. "Carlisle, guess who..."

Before he entered the living room, when he was still out Jasper's sight, Carlisle cut his wife off. "We may have a problem."

"What's wrong?"

Jasper heard him sigh with deep regret. "I found a body out in the woods. Old Earl Simmons. Looks like he was out hunting when..."

Esme's reply was very quiet. "When what?"

"I saw a bite mark, Esme." Carlisle started towards the living room. "I don't want to think it any more than you do, but we have to at least consider the possibility that..." Upon entering the large room, and seeing who was sitting in front of the hearth, Carlisle stopped short.

"That I got hungry?" Jasper finished for him.

Carlisle glanced at Esme; she slowly shook her head at him, but he merely sighed. "No one would judge you, Jasper. We have all had lapses."

Rising to his feet, Jasper fought back a wave of indignant anger. It wasn't an unreasonable assumption for Carlisle to make, he told himself. Hadn't he wanted to kill the old man he'd...

Just then, the pieces came together in Jasper's mind, forming a picture he didn't want to see.

"The man you found, the hunter...you knew him. You delivered his grandchild?"

"Yes." Concern darkened Carlisle's expression. "How did you know that?"

"I saw him in the woods. We actually spoke." Jasper shook his head. "I won't lie to you, Carlisle. I wanted to do it. I truly did. And when he made a connection between us, I thought I would have to. But my hand to god...he walked away very much alive." He took a step towards them. "Do you believe me?"

Golden stare met golden stare. After a moment, Carlisle inclined his chin. "Even if I couldn't see your eyes, absolutely." There was a heavy pause. "But we still have a problem."

Esme looked at her husband, worry written all over her lovely face. "We're not alone. Are we?"

He put his arm around her, pulling her closer. "No, I don't think we are." Glancing at the windows that looked out over the snowy woods, Carlisle added, "The question now becomes...do they know about us?"

* * *

Pausing just outside the door to her history class, Alice hesitated. The last time she'd entered the room, she'd had to be carried out. Would today be a repeat of the previous day's strange events? It wasn't the first time that day that she wondered if Jasper might have been right about not immediately going back to school. Suddenly, she couldn't wait for the final bell. She needed to find Jasper. If it took her days, weeks, months, even years, she would not stop until they were together again.

Fortified by this thought, she pushed the door open. Her entrance only stopped one whispered conversation, a record low for the day. And to her surprise, the girls who'd been huddled together discussing her at least had the decency to look mildly ashamed.

Alice didn't waste time looking at them. Edward was already waiting in their corner. Only unlike every other person in the room, he hadn't so much as glanced up at her.

_Edward?_ she called to him.

He closed his eyes and she could have sworn he winced at the sound of her voice in his head.

_I'm sorry about lunch, _Alice apologized. _Can we sit together? _There was no indication that he'd even heard her. Alice approached his desk. _Edward, please don't be mad at me, even if I kind of deserve it. I'm still upset about Jasper, that's all. I shouldn't have taken it out on you._

Edward's eyes flew open. "Will you stop talking, Alice?"

His outburst had several heads turning to give him extremely puzzled looks. Alice, however, froze in place. "What's wrong?" she said out loud, although too quickly for the humans to hear. "Edward?"

"Please," he muttered, plunging his hands into his hair. He kept them there, as if he was holding onto his head. "Just...sit down."

She lowered herself into the desk next to his and let her bookbag slip off her shoulder and land on the floor. "You are mad at me."

"I'm really..." He squeezed his eyes shut. "...really not."

Alice opened her mouth to reply, but then she heard her name. "Alice? Can we sit together?"

She looked at Marjorie who had just entered and taken two empty desks up front. The girl's face was happy and hopeful...until Alice gently shook her head and pointed to Edward. "I'm going to sit back here today," she told her friend.

There was something wrong about the way Marjorie looked at her. But there was no time for Alice to really consider it. Just then, Mrs. Baker entered, went straight to the board, and began writing. When she finished and faced the class again, her smirk could only be described as satisfied. "Ladies and gentlemen, please clear your desks except for a piece of paper and a pencil. It's time for a quiz."

A chorus of groans followed her words, and Alice couldn't help but notice how Edward suddenly grabbed the edges of his desk. When she offered him a piece of paper from her notebook, he barely got out a tight-lipped, "Thank you." He made no motion to get a pencil from his bag. And he didn't ask her, in words or in looks, how she had failed to see the quiz coming.

The three questions about the founding fathers took Alice less than two minutes to answer. When she was done, she flipped her paper over and snuck a glance at Edward. He was still holding onto the surface of his desk, the blank sheet in front of him, unmarked. His eyes were closed again, but his lips were moving ever so slightly.

"Pencils down," the teacher instructed. "Starting in the back of the room with...Mr. Cullen. Can you give us your answer to question number one?"

When a few seconds had passed and Edward hadn't replied, Alice looked at him. "Edward?" she whispered, gently nudging his foot with hers.

"The first man to sign the Declaration of Independence was John Hancock," he said, never opening his eyes.

"Very good, Mr. Cullen. Moving on to question number..."

"It's all right if you don't like me, Mrs. Baker," Edward continued. "You at least try not to show it and I appreciate that."

Twenty pairs of very startled eyes, including one golden set, shot to him.

"Edward," Alice said again, this time as more of a warning.

"Susie Johann likes me, don't you, Susie?" With his eyes still closed, he turned his head towards a brunette girl two rows up. "She likes me quite a lot. Much more than her own boyfriend, actually."

As Susie let out a mortified gasp, Alice reached for her brother's arm. "Edward, stop it!" she ordered him.

When his eyes opened, all she saw was frozen amber. "Dean Oglsby got number one wrong, but only because he cheated off of Gary Kent's paper. Barbara Whitney didn't eat lunch again because she wants Mike Anderson to ask her to the Winter Formal. But Mike..."

Alice lept to her feet, dragging Edward up as well. "I'm taking him to the nurse, Mrs. Baker," she announced. Without further explanation, she pulled her brother out of the classroom.

Out in the empty hall, Alice put her hands on her hips. "What do you think you're doing?"

Breaking away from her, Edward stumbled back. But he only took a few dizzy steps before he dropped down into a crouch, covering his ears with his hands. "Make it stop, Alice," he moaned. "Please..."

"Edward?" She immediately knelt at his side, putting her arm around his hunched shoulders. "Edward, tell me what's wrong!"

He shook his head wildly. "All of them...all at once...everyone..." His chest rose and fell rapidly. "Everything...everywhere...can't turn them off!" His gorgeous face scrunched up in agony. "Get out of my head!" he screamed, pounding his temple with his fist.

A second later, a door down the hall swung open and Emmett burst into the corridor. Spotting his siblings, he covered the distance between them in the blink of an eye. As was Emmett's way, he didn't ask questions. When Alice looked at him and said, "We need to get him home," he simply slung Edward over his shoulder and took off.

* * *

"I'm still thirsty."

The man snorted, the sound of contempt nearly drowned out on the winter wind sweeping through the forest. "You're always thirsty."

"I wouldn't be if you'd let us hunt in town," she shot back. "But no...we have to stay out here like...like nomads, picking off the scraggliest excuses for human beings." She licked her lips although the taste of the hunter's blood was long gone. "We deserve better."

To this, he laughed. "It's coming, my love," he assured her. "All that we deserve and so much more. Just be patient. It's almost time."

She frowned. "Are they really so important?"

The look he gave her could have frozen water. "Are you questioning me?"

"No!" she quickly said. "I just think..."

"You're not here to do the thinking." As quickly as his anger had come, it faded away and he smiled. "That's my job." He grabbed her, pulling her into a bruising kiss that left her limp against him, yearning for more. "Better," he murmured in her ear. "Much better..."

She looked up at his dark red eyes. "I want you," she whimpered. "It's been so long, what with her always hanging around."

"Our little Marjorie is as important as they are," he reminded her. "She's proving to be far more talented than I'd ever imagined a human could be. It's a good thing I found her first."

"You're not serious about turn..."

He cut her off with another, even harder kiss. "You know...I like you so much better when you're not talking." With that, he pushed her to her knees in front of him and reached for his belt buckle.

* * *

To Be Continued

A/N: To see the Cullen house, go to http : / img . photobucket . com / albums / v510 / belismakr / winterhouse . jpg


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: I have a truly great beta reader, without whom I couldn't have written this chapter. Thank you so much, Lisa. And thank you to everyone who's been reading and reviewing this story; I've said it before, but your awesomely kind words keep me going. Enjoy this chapter, and happy new year!

I also want to take a moment to thank Yvaughn for all of her tireless help finding just the right picture for this chapter.

* * *

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?

by Kristen Elizabeth

* * *

Carlisle signed Earl Simmons's death certificate with a heavy hand. After a moment's pause, and with a sad smile of support from Esme who stood at his side, he offered it to the sheriff.

"Has his family been informed?" he asked the man standing in the middle of his study.

The sheriff, seeming much older than his forty-something years, looked down at the wide-brimmed hat he held in his hands. "On my way to do it now." He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing. "Earl and my Pops...they go way back." In the man's weary eyes, Carlisle saw sorrow hardened by a flash of determination. "You sure it was an animal attack?"

Although he hated doing it, centuries of practice had turned Carlisle into the smoothest of liars when necessary. "Yes. A wolf, most likely. We see them out here all the time. It's tragic, but there's no one to blame but nature."

Easily placated, mostly because such attacks weren't unheard of in the long winter months, the sheriff nodded. "Well, I'm at least glad you found him. Better now than at spring thaw."

Carlisle inclined his head. "Please pass on my condolences to his family."

"Will do." When Carlisle rose from behind his desk, the sheriff stopped him. "I'll see myself out, Doc." Donning his hat, he glanced at Esme and touched the brim. "Ma'am."

When the rumbling noise of the sheriff's truck was far enough away from the house, Jasper ventured downstairs. "Does he suspect anything?" he asked Carlisle as the older man came out of his study, hand in hand with Esme.

"Even if he did, Earl's family is quite religious. I doubt they'd ever consent to an autopsy." Carlisle released Esme's hand only to put his arm around her shoulders and draw her closer to his side. "I just hope that whoever was responsible for Earl Simmons was just passing through and is long gone now. Animals can only be blamed so many times before people become suspicious."

"We'll move if we have to," Esme said, resting her cheek against his collar. "We have before."

"You love this house," her husband reminded her.

"Yes," she agreed. "But it's not more important to me than our family." At this, Carlisle pressed a soft kiss into her hair.

Jasper folded his arms. "Do you run into others often?"

"Just the occasional nomad," Carlisle replied. "Usually, they feed once or twice before moving on. We've only had to move one time before. And in that instance, it was a small clan, so there were quite a few..."

The front door burst open just then, kicked in without much effort by Emmett. "Carlisle." His voice was grave and when the others had recovered from the slight shock enough to notice who Emmett was dragging along beside him, it became obvious why.

Edward was standing on his own two feet, but just barely. His chin touched his chest and he was mumbling to himself, twitching slightly. His hair was a bronze mess, like he'd been pulling at it.

"Edward!" Esme cried out.

But Carlisle reached them first. "What's going on?"

Unwrapping Edward's arm from around his neck, Emmett shook his head. "Beats the hell outta me. I was sitting in class when I heard a ruckus out on the hall. Came out and found him down on the ground, beating at his own head. Alice told me to get him home, so I did. Ran the whole way here." Still holding Edward upright, he continued, "On the way, he kept asking me to make the voices stop. Then he just started this..." He indicated Edward's moving, but silent lips.

Jasper had only one question. "Is Alice all right?"

"Yeah," Emmett assured him. "She's fine." He paused. "Crap. I hope she tells Rose what's going on."

"Edward?" Carlisle put his hands on either side of Edward's face, forcibly lifting his chin. "Son?" he whispered. "Talk to me."

A few moments passed as Edward blankly stared at him. "I can hear it all." His face screwed up in pain. "They're so loud, father. I can't make them stop..." His eyes pleaded with Carlisle. "Make them stop."

It was too much for Esme. She flew to Edward's side, wrapping her arms around him. "He needs to lie down," she said, her voice quivering.

Jasper watched as they worked to guide Edward into the living room, to his favorite lounging chair. The boy's mental torture was palpable; it was putting Jasper on edge. Where was Alice? He needed Alice!

"He's never been like this before," Emmett said, folding his huge arms solemnly. "Least not that I've ever seen."

Sitting at Edward's side, Carlisle accepted a blanket from Esme and draped it around his son. "While he's never been able to not hear thoughts, he's always had the ability to filter them out. Imagine if he heard every thought everyone was having at any time. He'd be..."

"Like that."

Heads turned to see Alice enter the living room, Edward's car keys in her hand. Although she gave Jasper a loving look that instantly erased almost all of his anxiety, she was focused on her brother.

"It happened in class," she told them. "I should have known something was wrong with him when he yelled at me, but I thought he was upset about...other stuff." Without elaborating, she went on. "It was like he couldn't stop himself. Whatever he heard in his head, he started saying out loud. That's when I pulled him out of the room. But..." She paused, like she was sorting out her memories. "He got worse in the hallway."

Emmett nodded. "Yeah. And he got quieter the closer we got to home."

"The further you got from town," Jasper quietly noted. "Less people out here. Fewer thoughts in his mind."

Esme combed her fingers through Edward's hair, attempting to smooth out the tangles. "If we could just stop thinking..." Her chin trembled. "We're hurting him."

"I don't know what to do," Carlisle admitted, his voice cracking.

Jasper suddenly felt tiny fingers weaving through his. He looked down to see the spiky top of Alice's head. She was still focused on Edward, but when she spoke, it was for his ears only. "Can you help him, Jazz?"

"What do you want me to..." He stopped as he realized exactly what she meant. "Do you think that would work?"

"Please try." Alice looked up at him with worried eyes. "For me?"

She could have asked him for the moon on a silver platter. He could never say no to Alice.

Releasing her hand, Jasper stepped forward. "May I?" he asked Carlisle and Esme, indicating Edward's tense figure. He met Carlisle's stare and after a moment, the older man lowered his chin and moved aside.

All eyes were on Jasper as he approached Edward. Squatting down in front of the boy, he let the leftover tension in his own body drain away. _Relax, Edward_, he thought._ Just relax._

Edward's forehead crinkled. Whatever had taken hold of him wasn't going to let him go that easily.

_Everything's quiet...everything's calm. _Jasper closed his eyes, channeling all the tranquility he could muster into Edward. _The pain is gone, the voices are fading, and you're safe. _

When Jasper opened his eyes, he saw Edward slowly lifting his head, looking around at his family as if emerging from a trance.

"Edward?" Esme asked, still scared, but hopeful.

When his gaze stopped on Carlisle, Edward attempted a smile. "It's all right," he said, his voice husky. Answering an unspoken question he must have heard in all of their minds, Edward added, "It's just...the five of you now. Normal." He lifted his shoulder weakly. "For me, at least."

"Oh Edward!" Esme embraced her son and pressed a relieved kiss to his forehead. Drawing back, she reached out to Jasper just as he stood up to retreat into his corner, out of the spotlight. "Thank you," she told him, squeezing his fingers. "Just...thank you."

Jasper shook his head. "I didn't really do anything." He didn't need any accolades. The way Alice was beaming at him was enough of a reward.

"Yes, you did," Carlisle told him firmly. But instead of expounding on this and bringing more attention to Jasper than he obviously wanted, Carlisle turned to his son. "Tell us exactly what happened."

Edward put a hand to the side of his head, rubbing his temple as if it was sore. "I can't remember when it started. Lunch, I think. The cafeteria...almost the whole school in one room. Usually I can ignore them. Or I focus on just one person. Alice, or sometimes Rose. But today..." He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "Instead of tuning them out, they started getting louder. Like..." He searched for a metaphor. "Turning up the volume dial on the phonograph. And it wasn't just whoever was around me, or even just the people in the school." He hesitated, remembering. "I could hear the soda jerk at Wolfson's putting orders together."

"Wolfson's is all the way down the street from the school," Emmett said, as if Edward must have been mistaken.

But there was no mirth in Edward's eyes. "I know. Mayor Guthrie had a chocolate malt for lunch. Don't tell his wife. He's supposed to be on a diet."

"I don't know what to make of this," Carlisle said after a few moments. He looked at Esme. "Maybe we should leave. As early as tonight."

"Rose is gonna love that," Emmett muttered.

Esme glanced around. "Where is Rosalie?"

* * *

Rosalie glanced at her delicate gold watch for the fifth time in as many minutes. Standing beside her car in the school parking lot, almost empty now half an hour after the final bell, she tapped her foot in mounting impatience.

Edward's car was gone, but that wasn't much of a surprise. He liked to escape school as quickly as possible. But there was no sign of the rest of her family. Not even Emmett, and he knew better than to keep her waiting.

Still, pride kept her rooted to the spot, determined that they would come to her, not the other way around. But a half hour turned into forty-five minutes. The light grey clouds above were turning darker as a storm gathered.

If her hair got even the slightest bit wet, someone was going to pay dearly for it.

Rosalie had just decided to head back inside to find Emmett and drag him out by force if necessary, when she smelled a human approaching from behind. While she'd never lost control and given into the craving, she couldn't help what she was, and humans who came too close, too suddenly tempted her as much as they did anyone else.

But not this human. This human's scent was actually off-putting. When Rosalie turned around to see who it was, she immediately realized why.

Alice's chubby new playmate stood a few feet away, clutching her books to her chest like a shield. Yet there was something in the way she looked at Rosalie that told her...the girl wasn't entirely afraid.

"I'm sorry to bother you," Marjorie said. "But I didn't know if anyone had told you about your brother and sister."

Rosalie's eyes narrowed into golden daggers. "What happened to them?"

"Your brother, Edward..."

"I know his name," Rosalie snapped.

Marjorie nodded. "Well, he...um...he got sick in Mrs. Baker's class, fifth period. Alice took him to the nurse, but they never came back."

Surprised and a little worried, but unwilling to show it in front of the strange girl, Rosalie coolly folded her arms. "Did my sister ask you to relay this information?"

"Um..." Marjorie glanced down at her penny-less penny loafers. "I thought you'd want to know."

"Really." It was neither a question nor a statement.

Seconds ticked by like hours as Rosalie looked the girl up and down, her inhuman eyes searching for anything out of the ordinary. But there was nothing special about this girl. She was plain in every sense of the word, from her lifeless hair to her shapeless clothes. Her skin was rough, with a touch more yellow than pink. Her eyes were red-rimmed; her nails were ragged and unpolished.

Rosalie's nose crinkled as she caught another whiff of her scent on the breeze that suddenly blew by. Unappealing, even slightly sickening...how could Alice stand being around her?

Such intense scrutiny would have made anyone nervous; Rosalie was pleased when the girl began to shift her weight from one foot to the other.

"Well," Rosalie eventually said. "You've delivered the news. You can go."

Marjorie blinked as if she'd been slapped. After a second, she started to leave, but changed her mind at the last second and turned back. "Just so you know, Alice is my friend now."

She had to give the girl points for bravery, but there was something dark in her words that put Rosalie on edge. She took a step towards her. "Don't take advantage of her. Or the next time we talk, it won't be this pleasant."

Glancing away, the girl sniffed. "I don't understand. You're so pretty." When she looked back, her expression was colder than the air around them. "At least on the outside."

Rosalie yanked her car door open and slid behind the wheel. "Well, we can't all have Alice's heart of gold." With that, she raced out of the parking lot, heading for home. With any luck, she'd beat the snow.

* * *

"It's snowing. Just like you said it would."

Alice's eyelashes fluttered when Jasper spoke in her ear, having come up behind her to look out the living room window. "Imagine that."

The evening's snowfall had been the last vision she could clearly remember having.

Gently, he turned her around to face him. "Alice," he began. "I need to..."

She put a dainty finger to his lips. "You don't."

"I know you've already seen it, darlin', but I need to say it." Jasper's hands were cool against her shoulders, bared now by the blue patterned dress she'd darted upstairs to change into, having been eager to shed her school clothes. "I hate that we fought. And I am going to do everything in my power to make sure it never happens again." He kissed her softly, but briefly, aware that they had at least one person watching them. When it came to her family, Esme missed nothing. "I'm sorry, Alice."

Biting her lip to keep it steady, Alice nodded. "I'm sorry, too," she whispered. "I missed you, Jazz."

He was just about to suggest that they make a discreet exit to their room when the front door flew open and Rosalie stormed inside. Although she looked like a snow angel with white flakes resting on her blonde curls, her expression was anything but angelic.

"I don't suppose it matters to anyone that I had to hear from a complete stranger that my brother was sick and had to go home early?"

Emmett approached his wife with his hands up in the air, the stance of an innocent man. "Babe, there just wasn't time to get you. Edward was real bad off and there'd already been enough of a fuss without yanking you out of class, too."

Rosalie's furious expression softened as she looked at Edward in his lounge chair, still being fussed over by Esme. "Are you all right?" she asked tersely.

He met her stare for a moment before nodding. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking. And for meaning it."

"What happened?" After a brief explanation from Carlisle, Rosalie shook her head. "Something's not right here. Really not right." She turned to Alice. "Don't you agree?"

Alice blinked. "I don't..." She gripped Jasper's hand tighter. "Why are you asking me?"

"Because. You see the future, yes?" Rosalie stepped towards her sister, her ankle-strap black pumps clicking against the polished wood floor, her full skirts whispering against her calves. "When bad things are coming, you're supposed to have some warning about them."

Carlisle frowned. "Rosalie…"

"And when people decide things one way or another, you know the outcome." Rosalie stopped right in front of Alice, ignoring the dangerous look beginning to darken Jasper's face. "How did my French test go, Alice?"

Edward stood up on still-weak legs. "Alice isn't your personal oracle, Rose."

"And you always get A's in French," Emmett added. "So, what's the point in..."

"I threw the test." There was silence for a minute before Rosalie glanced at Carlisle. "Oh, you'll probably be getting a call from my teacher. I didn't answer a single question correctly."

"Why on earth would you do that?" Esme asked her daughter.

"Gee. I don't know. But maybe Alice does." Rosalie returned her cool stare to the shorter girl. "Sitting right in front of you in your homeroom, looking straight at you, I decided to fail that test." She paused for effect. "And you didn't see it."

Jasper's eyes narrowed as he put a protective arm around Alice's waist. "I really don't think you need to take that tone with her," he warned Rosalie.

"You can't possibly expect Alice to see every stupid decision you make," Edward snorted.

Emmett came up beside his wife. "But...what about the big stuff, Edward? Like what happened to you today. Shouldn't she have seen that coming?"

"I didn't decide to start hearing everyone in the whole town!"

"What if someone decided it for you?"

Carlisle shook his head at Rosalie's suggestion. "That's a very large leap."

"Carlisle." Esme wrung her pale, slender hands. "It makes a certain amount of sense. Especially considering what happened to Alice yesterday. I'm not sure we should assume they're separate incidents."

"Edward's powers go haywire," Rosalie said, tossing back her damp hair. "At the same time, Alice's powers vanish. That's a fairly big coincidence."

Jasper couldn't completely contain the low growl rising in the back of his throat. "Alice was a victim," he said between his teeth. "She hasn't done anything wrong."

"No one is saying that, Jasper," Carlisle said, holding up a calming hand.

Edward nodded his agreement. "And we haven't even established that Alice's powers have..."

Alice cut Edward off. "They have," she blurted out. "They're gone." Pulling her hand out of Jasper's, she folded her arms like a shield across her chest. "I haven't had a vision since yesterday. I've tried, but every time I look into the future, it's just...black. Empty."

"Why didn't you tell us, Alice?" Carlisle asked without accusation.

"What does a blank vision of the future mean to you, Carlisle?" Without waiting for a reply, she answered her own question. "It's not a good sign, right?" Aware of Rosalie's eyes on her, Alice straightened her back, determined not to cower in front of her. "I should have said something, but I was scared. If I lose my power..." Her brave face slipped away. "What do I have to offer you? Any of you?" She backed away, avoiding Jasper's eyes. "Why would you want me in your family?"

When she made it up the stairs and he heard their bedroom door slam, Jasper turned to the Cullens. "She's loved this family since before some of you were in it." He looked at Rosalie and Emmett. "Whatever's happening here, it's not her fault. She would do anything to protect any one of you. Just remember that."

Leaving them with that thought, Jasper headed upstairs.

* * *

To Be Continued

A/N: To see the Cullens' living room, go here: http : / www . flickr . com / photos / retrorenovation / 2782161197 / in / set - 72157606329083462 /


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: This chapter underwent so many revisions that I really tested the infinite patience of my amazing beta, Lisa. Thank you for putting up with me, hon;) And to everyone else, thank you so much for caring about this story. I hope you keep enjoying it.

* * *

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?

by Kristen Elizabeth

* * *

Once Jasper was gone, Edward glared at his sister. "Well done, Rose. If you meant to make her feel as bad as possible about something over which she has absolutely no control, congratulations, you succeeded."

Rosalie met his glare with one of her own. "That's not what I wanted and you know it. And for the record, if anyone should have had an inkling as to what she was thinking, it was supposed to be you."

"Sorry, I was a little preoccupied this afternoon with the entire town in my head," Edward shot back.

Carlisle sat down with a sigh. "What is going on here?" he asked to no one in particular.

"Oh, Alice," Esme murmured, putting an elegant hand to the pearls at her throat. "If I'd known she felt that way...my poor child." She stood up from her chair. "I should talk to her."

Carlisle reached for her hand, stopping her. "Let Jasper calm her down. We'll set things straight later."

"Doesn't it feel like we're under some sort of an attack?"

Emmett's unexpected question sent them all into silence for a few long moments. "By who?" Rosalie eventually asked her husband. "The idiot children at school hate us, but they couldn't have any affect on us. They're human."

"I don't know," Emmett said with a shrug. "Just said it feels like we are."

Edward looked at Carlisle suddenly, having heard a startling thought in his father's mind. "When were you going to tell us that you know that for certain now?" he asked out loud.

Rosalie scowled and nearly stomped her foot in frustration. "Don't do that, Edward. You know it drives me insane!"

"What do we know for certain?" Emmett asked, confused. He glanced back and forth between Edward and Carlisle. "Is someone gonna say it so the rest of us can hear it?"

"Carlisle found a body in the woods today," Esme said quietly. "There's a new arrival in town and they're probably not friendly."

"That's information we really could have used earlier," Edward told his father. Carlisle lowered his chin in acknowledgment.

Emmett scratched his cheek thoughtfully. "Well, a human couldn't do anything to us, but another vampire..." He ignored his wife's dirty look. She never liked him to say the word out loud, but sometimes it was just unavoidable. "I could buy that."

"If this newcomer has a power of his or her own, it could somehow be affecting Alice and Edward," Carlisle murmured.

"Yeah. 'Cause I know that if I was gonna start some kinda fight, I'd probably take out the mind-reader and the future-teller first," Emmett said. "Bet Jasper'd back me up on that."

"But all of what happened to me and Alice happened at school," Edward pointed out.

"And obviously we know that he or she feeds the...usual way," Esme added. "They'd have a hard time walking amongst the student body."

Carlisle looked at his adopted children. "Have there been any new faces at school over the past few days?"

Rosalie and Edward exchanged a quick look before Rosalie replied, "Marjorie."

"Who's that?" Emmett asked.

"The girl Alice sat with at lunch today. Her new friend," Edward told his brother. "But she's not one of us. Her eyes are..." He thought back, unable to recall the girl's face all that clearly. "I'm not sure, but I know they're not like ours."

"They're blue," Rosalie said. "And she doesn't smell like us either." Her nose crinkled. "In fact, she stinks."

Esme shook her head. "That's not very nice, Rosalie."

"Well, it's not a very nice smell." Rosalie was unapologetic. "I could be dying of thirst and I wouldn't drink her. I'm sure she'd taste terrible."

"Do you know her last name?" Carlisle asked. Rosalie shook her head. Edward, however, tilted his to the side, watching his father carefully. A second later, Carlisle surprised everyone, even Edward, by suddenly rising to his feet. "I'm going into town."

"Carlisle?" When he grabbed the keys to her Cadillac from the coffee table, Esme asked, "Is it important? You're going to get caught in the storm."

"It could be very important." He gave her a soft kiss. "I'll be fine." He met Edward's watchful eye. "Not a word," he told his son. "Until I'm sure."

Edward nodded. "All right."

After they heard the front door close behind him, Rosalie narrowed her eyes at Edward. "I really, really hate when you do that."

His smile was brief, but unmistakable. "I know."

* * *

Jasper found Alice standing in front of their closet, staring at the neat racks of clothes within. She gave no indication that she'd noticed him enter the room, but after a few minutes of silence, she finally spoke.

"When I woke up into this life, I was wearing this...awful grey rag. I wouldn't even really call it a dress. It was so big on me that it kept sliding off my shoulder. I had no stockings. My shoes were worn through." Alice paused, remembering. "I caught a glimpse of myself in a glass window and I thought...who is that poor girl and why hasn't someone told her she looks dreadful?"

"You could never look dreadful," Jasper murmured.

Alice reached into the closet, running her fingers over a row of silks, wools and cottons as she continued, "I bought a real dress with the money I made betting on a horse race. It wasn't much, but it fit me and there were no holes or tears. But I kept that horrible rag. I still had it when I met you."

He took a step towards her. "I don't remember it."

"I threw it away that very night. It was the past. You were the future." Alice turned on her heel to face him, her full skirt swirling around her legs. "I have so many dresses now, but sometimes I still feel like that girl in the window. And that all of this is just a dream I'm going to wake up from soon. Alone. Back in that rag." She looked down, sheepishly. "I know. It's silly."

Jasper shook his head as he moved closer. "No. It's part of what I love about you, Alice. You take none of this..." With a wave of his hand, he indicated the closet, the bedroom, even the grand house itself. "...for granted."

Still focused on the floor, Alice asked, "You'll still love me if I never see the future again, right? If I'm not any use anymore...if we have to leave?"

"Now you're being silly." Having reached her, Jasper forced her chin up. "Look at me, Alice." Her lashes lifted, revealing the gold he'd grown to love even more than the red he'd first fallen for. "I'd go anywhere with you. You just have to say the word." With the pad of his thumb, he caressed her perfect cheek. "But I know you don't want to leave them. You're happy here. And, truth be told, I don't think they want you to leave."

Alice's eyes were anguished. "I can't see either way!"

"And that frightens you, I know." She let him pull her into his arms as he went on, "If you could have seen their faces, felt their worry yesterday when Edward brought you home..." Jasper kissed the top of her head, savoring the feel of her hair on his lips. "They love you, Alice. Not your visions."

"But if we left," she said, her words muffled by his shirt. "Maybe we could find a place that makes you happy, too."

"I'm happy when you're happy," Jasper told her. "Whether that's here or some other place, it doesn't matter to me." But even as he spoke, Jasper felt suddenly cold at the idea of leaving, of never seeing Carlisle or Esme again. He shrugged off the feeling as quickly as it had come. "I love you, Alice," he said firmly. "I don't need anyone else."

It didn't surprise him when she rose up on her toes and kissed him, but he was a little surprised when she grabbed his shirt and dragged him with her as she backed up, managing not to break the kiss even when their bodies slammed together against the wall. She began wrestling with his buttons, desperate to bare his chest and all the scars she loved to touch whenever they made love.

"In the middle of the day?" he teased her.

But she was past teasing as she pushed his shirt off his shoulders until it stopped at the bend of his elbows and started on his belt buckle. "I lay in bed all last night," she told him breathlessly. "Waiting for you." With his buckle undone and his jeans riding low on his hips, she looked up at him. "I need you, Jazz."

Something primal raced through him. Grabbing her up, he carried her to the bay window, her favorite place in the room. Snow was still falling outside, but neither of them felt the cold. Sitting down on the low, wooden seat, Jasper pulled Alice onto his lap. As they kissed, they moved together, bunching up the layers of her full skirts around her thighs, working aside all barriers between them until hard flesh met soft.

His name was on her lips as they joined, but his mouth was occupied with the delicious nape of her neck. He nuzzled and nipped carefully; he would never leave a scar on Alice, no matter how intense their lovemaking became.

And it was intense. Her hands were tangled in his hair and her chin rested on his shoulder as she writhed on his lap. Jasper moved his lips down her chest until he reached the tempting, sweet-smelling cleft between her breasts. He wanted to rip material away with his teeth; she might have loved the dress, but it was covering everything he wanted to see.

"Clasp," Alice moaned, as if reading his mind. "Behind...my neck."

His fingers fumbled for it and he'd just managed to get it undone when he heard Alice gasp.

And not in a good way.

"Jazz!" she cried out, gripping his shoulders tighter. "There's someone out there!"

Still lost in the fog of pleasure, he tried to twist his head around to see out the window. "What?"

"There!" Alice pointed, and in that exact moment, he caught a glimpse of a dark shape out in the snow, between the trees. But as soon as he spotted it, the mysterious figure vanished. "Jasper..."

Grasping Alice's tiny waist, he lifted her off his lap and shot to his feet. As she smoothed down her skirt, he re-buckled and zipped, never taking his eyes off the spot where their spy had been standing. Without bothering to do up the buttons of his shirt, Jasper unlocked the window and threw it open.

"Jasper, what are you..." Alice never got to finish her protest. He had already leapt out the window, landing in the snow with all the grace of a leonine predator.

She watched him until he disappeared into the woods, following a rapidly-fading trail of footprints. Once he was out of sight, Alice ran downstairs. "Edward!" she cried. "Emmett!"

Her brothers appeared within in seconds. Edward looked worried and she wondered just how much he'd overheard. Whatever he'd heard, he must have shared it with the others because Emmett was already cracking his knuckles, ready to go.

"He's heading northwest," Alice told them, fighting back worry and dread.

"We'll find him," Edward assured her.

Emmett grinned. "He doesn't get to have all the fightin' fun."

The boys were out the door before Esme and Rosalie even appeared at the stairs. "Be careful!" Esme called to them. "Oh, Carlisle should be with them!" she said anxiously.

Rosalie looked at Alice. "We're not just going to sit here and wait." It was halfway between a statement and a question.

Although she knew very little about fighting, Jasper had taught her a few things during the years they'd spent looking for the Cullens, mostly self-defense techniques. She might not be good for much more than that, but if Jasper found the figure in the woods, she liked the idea of him having four pairs of eyes watching his back, instead of just two.

"No." Alice started for the door with determination in her stride. "We're not."

* * *

Jasper ran until the footprints vanished, erased by the snow that was coming down faster and harder with each passing minute.

Standing in the middle of the woods, his hair dusted with white, his cold breath invisible in the cold air, he looked all around, searching for any trace of the spy, the uninvited guest to his time with Alice. It wasn't just the unknown threat he was chasing. It was the intrusion, the invasion of their privacy that really had his dead blood boiling.

"Show yourself!" he shouted, his voice reverberating through the trees. "Come out and face me!"

His scarred chest, only half covered by his unbuttoned shirt, rose and fell. But there was no answer. The woods around him seemed completely empty.

"Hiding behind trees...looking in windows...running away...you're a coward!" Jasper yelled. "A yellow-bellied coward!"

Still, there was nothing but silence.

Jasper dragged his hands through his snow-dampened curls. Overcome with too much anger and frustration, he threw his head back and cursed at the dark grey sky above. "God dammit!"

"Never thought I'd see the day you'd curse in front of a lady."

The sleek and silver voice sliced through the silence. Dropping his chin, he squinted through the heavy snowfall. Someone was coming towards him and all of his old battle instincts reawakened.

Slowly, a figure appeared through the snow. She was tall and slender with masses of dark blonde curls. Her face, when she got close enough for him to see it, was flawless, except for her dark red eyes. She stopped a few feet away from him, holding up her hands innocently. "It's been a long time," she said with a sharp smile.

"Who are you?" he demanded, barely holding back a growl.

"You don't recognize me?" He wasn't sure if this upset her or amused her. "Oh, but I remember you."

Jasper's jaw clenched. "How do you know me?"

She laughed. "How do I know you?" When she looked him straight in the eye, there was no joy in her expression. "You made me."

Her words punched him in the gut. "I..." He swallowed. "Your name. What's your name?"

"You ask so many questions," she sighed. "That must be a new habit. You never used to say much of anything. More a man of action than of words." Her gaze drifted down to his chest. "Not that any of us minded. Words are overrated."

If he hadn't know it to be impossible, he would have sworn he felt nauseated. "Your name."

She pointed to a semi-circle scar around his left nipple. "I gave you that one. There's one on your hip that my sister gave you the same night." She pretended to pout. "Don't tell me you don't remember that. Maria had so much fun watching us...you know."

"Maria..." His head felt like it was spinning. "Maria made us all do...a lot of things."

"Yes." Jasper had no idea why he let her approach him. She was so close he could smell her, that wonderful scent of a recent kill, a human's blood coursing through her veins. "But not all of it was bad, was it?"

He couldn't move, as if he'd been frozen to the ground. "She made us killers."

"No," she disagreed. "Maria made us vampires. You made us killers." With one final step, she pressed her body up against his. As she was only an inch or two shorter than him, her mouth was so close to his as she continued. "And we followed your every order." She ran her tongue over her lower lip. "We would have followed you anywhere. You were in us. Our thoughts, our feelings..." Her eyes closed, savoring a memory. "Our bodies."

Jasper's throat closed up. "Stop it."

"But..." Her eyes opened, red and dangerous. "You left. You left us with her," she repeated, her voice growing hard. "And when you were gone, everything changed. She lost control. We took too many chances. And then...they came."

"Who..."

She put her slender fingers against his mouth. "You want to know my name? It's been seventy years. Maybe you just need a little reminder."

Her kiss was hard and cold and her teeth nicked the inside of his lip. The little jolt of stinging pain was like lightning striking his memory. "Lenora," he said, twisting his head out of her grasp.

Lenora gave him a wickedly pleased smile. "I knew you couldn't have completely forgotten me." With that, she grabbed him again, kissing him with even more brutality than before. He felt her yanking his shirt free of his pants greedily, but he had no chance to make her stop. Suddenly he realized...they weren't alone.

"Lenora." At the sound of her voice, she released Jasper and stepped away from him, licking the corner of her lip with relish. She backed up towards the man who appeared from between the trees.

He was taller than Lenora by several inches; his hair was as black as coal, with a distinct streak of silver that started at his brow. He was dragging a human girl with him. The girl's wrists were bound and a pillowcase had been pulled over her head.

When Lenora reached the man's side, he shook his head at her in mock disappointment. "You're lucky I'm not the jealous type," he told her. Looking at Jasper, he smiled, displaying brilliant white teeth. "Would you care to join us for dinner?" He indicated their captive's ample body. "There's more than enough to go around."

The mere idea of it had venom flooding into his mouth. Jasper swallowed it back, steeling himself. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"My name is Silas," the man answered. Just then, Jasper heard his name shouted on the wind. Alice's voice, then Edward's and Emmett's. They were close. It didn't surprise him; he'd left Alice in the height of passion. His scent was undoubtedly strong and easy to follow, despite the snowstorm.

"And what I want..." Silas continued, laughing out loud. "...is on its way."

Jasper didn't even have time to consider what that might mean before Edward appeared out of the forest, several seconds ahead of Alice and Emmett. Rosalie followed a few moments later. Alice flew to his side as the rest of the Cullens flanked them, Rosalie and Edward to his left, Emmett to his right.

At any other time, Jasper would have admired how they fell into a natural battle stance, but when Alice tried to slip her little hand into his, all he could think about were the unwanted memories Lenora had invoked. And with those soiled images of his past in his head, he just didn't feel worthy enough to even touch his pixie. He jerked his hand out of hers.

"Jazz?" The fresh hurt in Alice's eyes was unbearable. He had to look away.

Edward glanced at him. "What's going on, Jasper?"

"I just invited Jasper to dine with us, Edward," Silas answered the boy's question. Emmett growled in the back of his throat at the man's knowledge of his brother's name. "I'd invite you all, too, but I know you follow a different diet." Silas reached for the bag on the human girl's head. "Pity. She put up such a valiant fight; I'd hate to see any part of her go to waste."

Alice was the first to recognize the girl once her plump face was revealed. "Marjorie!"

The girl's hair hung in damp tangles over her wide, frightened eyes. Her was the only breath visible in the frigid air; it came in short, panicked pants. "Alice! Help me! Please!"

Rosalie grabbed Alice at the last second, before she could run to the girl. "Let go of me!" Alice shouted at her sister, fighting against her deceptively strong arms. "They're going to kill her!"

"Do you know this human?" Silas asked, his tone too innocently surprised to be believed. "My, what a coincidence."

Edward glared at the stranger. "Alice, don't..." He stopped short.

"What is it?" Emmett asked, the menacing stare he had fixed on Lenora and Silas faltering for a moment as he glanced at his brother. "Edward?"

"I can't..." He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing. "I can't hear anyone. There's...nothing. From anyone."

This time, Emmett didn't even try to hold back his snarl of rage. "Whatever you're doing to him, it stops now!" he shouted. Crouching into an attack position, he prepared to leap forward.

"Come anywhere near us and I will drain the girl dry," Silas said, his smile never faltering.

"No!" Alice yelled, still struggling against Rosalie. "Emmett, we can't let them hurt her!" Her biggest brother growled, but stayed where he was. "Let her go," Alice begged. "Please..." She looked at Jasper. "We have to do something!"

Jasper's mind raced, assessing the situation and their odds if a fight were to break out. "Calm down," he told Alice. "We outnumber them."

"There is something you can do, Alice. And no one will get hurt." Silas spoke with all the fluidity of a serpent. "I'll let her live...if you and Edward will come with me."

Emmett snarled again, still poised to strike in his attack position. Edward looked back and forth between Silas and Lenora, desperately searching for a way into their minds.

Jasper's eyes flared wide, then narrowed into dangerously thin slits. "That will never happen," he swore.

Alice just blinked. "What do you mean?" she asked Silas.

"Don't listen to him," Rosalie hissed in Alice's ear.

Across the clearing, Lenora grabbed a handful of Marjorie's hair and jerked her head back, exposing her neck. Marjorie screamed. "Alice, help me!"

"It's quite simple," Silas continued. "Unless you and your brother come with us without a fight, she's as good as dead. And you will have killed her, Alice."

"He's playing you," Rosalie told her. "Don't fall for it."

Jasper's fist clenched. "Listen to Rosalie, Alice."

Alice looked around Jasper until she met her brother's worried eyes. "Edward?"

Edward slowly shook his head. "There's something...something Carlisle wondered. I think we need to stop and..."

As Edward spoke, a vision struck Alice. Her eyes glassed over at the image of Marjorie's pale, lifeless body. There was nothing more. It faded as quickly as it had appeared and the future was, once again, blank.

"Edward." More determined than ever, Alice pleaded with her brother. "They're going to kill her; I know it. I can see it. She'll be dead if we don't do something!"

Rosalie snorted softly. "Maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing if they did kill her."

With a burst of energy, Alice broke free of her sister's grasp. "She doesn't deserve to die just because you don't like her! If I can save her..." She looked at Jasper. "I have to try."

"You truly are a good friend," Silas complimented her. "But this isn't a halfway deal. It's you and Edward, or she dies."

"This is bullshit!" Emmett shouted. "What the hell do you want with them?"

"I merely want them to come with us," he replied, as though it was the most natural thing in the world. "I mean them no harm. You have my word. Ask anyone and they'll tell you...Silas never lies."

Rosalie fixed a deadly look on Silas. "You don't actually think we're going to let them go without a fight, do you?"

At this, Lenora laughed. "Oh, I look forward to that. It'll be so much fun messing up your face, blondie."

"You'll be in pieces before you reach her," Emmett promised.

"No!" Alice protested. "No bloodshed! No one's dying today!" She returned her attention to her brother. "Edward? Please."

"Alice, this is ridiculous," Jasper snapped with more exasperation than he'd intended. "She's one human. Her life is nothing compared to yours."

Alice stared at him like she'd never seen him before. "You don't mean that." She swallowed a lump in her throat. "You can't mean that."

But deep down, Jasper knew that he did. He just never imagined he'd say such a thing out loud. He couldn't even remember making a choice to; the words had just risen, unbidden, out of the darkest depths of his mind. "She's nothing to me," Jasper continued, hating each word even as he spoke them. "You're everything. The only person I care about saving is you."

"Alice." Marjorie's voice was small. Terrified. "I don't want to die."

Torn between her lover and her friend, Alice had reached her breaking point. "Edward, we can save her. Maybe she is just one human..." She studiously avoided looking at Jasper, afraid of losing what little control she had left over her emotions. "But haven't we taken enough lives?" She put her hand on her brother's arm. "Only a monster would let her be killed and do nothing to stop it."

Her words were like the proverbial stake through Jasper's heart.

"We're not monsters," Edward said quietly.

"No," Alice agreed. "That's why I have to do this. But I can't do it by myself. Please, Edward." She paused. "Brother?"

When, after a few seconds, Edward lowered his chin in agreement, Jasper lost control. Growling, he tried to grab Edward by the throat, but Edward was too fast for him. He blocked the attack and pushed Jasper away, sending him stumbling backwards across the snow. Emmett grabbed Jasper's arm, pinning him in place. "What are you doing?" Jasper snarled at Edward, fighting a losing battle against Emmett's massive strength. "She's not going anywhere!"

"I'm not letting her go alone." Edward looked Jasper straight in the eye. "Defend her with my life, remember? I wasn't lying to you. I'll keep her safe." He looked at his other brother and sister. "We'll both be fine. Carlisle will understand, but make sure Esme knows we didn't have a choice."

Rosalie shook her head, blonde hair flying. "Everyone needs to just stay where they are," she demanded. "Alice, I realize that you think the world of this girl you've known for, what, two days? And maybe she is an innocent life that needs to be defended or whatever. But there is something fishy about all of this. I just know it. If you go with them, you'll be making a big mistake."

Alice nibbled her lower lip nervously. "I'm sorry, Rose," she whispered. "I can't see what'll happen if I do this. But if I don't, people I care about will be hurt. My mind's made up." To escape the betrayed look in her sister's eyes, she snuck a peek at Jasper. His beloved face was frozen in an expression that could have passed for fury or despair. Or both. "Her life isn't less important than mine. In fact, it might be worth more."

"Alice," Rosalie tried one last time. "I'm asking you to trust me. We're family. Aren't we?"

Her whole body shook and it took every bit of her strength for Alice to turn her back on her brother and sister...on Jasper himself...and begin walking towards Marjorie. A moment later, Edward followed, a silent, but steady presence behind her. By the time they reached the other side of the clearing, the snow had already erased their footprints.

At Marjorie's side, with an arm around the girl's waist to calm her whimpers, Alice glanced over her shoulder, seeking one last look at Jasper. Their eyes met. Through the falling snow, he could see her mouth moving, forming three inaudible, but unmistakable words.

And then, she was gone.

Left alone in the clearing with Rosalie and Emmett, rage built up in the center of Jasper's chest until he felt ready to explode. When he couldn't take it anymore, he threw off Emmett's grip, grabbed the first thing he saw, a fallen tree trunk that outweighed him by several hundred pounds, and hurtled it into the air with all of his might.

As it crashed into another, stronger tree, and the wood splintered into dozens of pieces, Jasper screamed her name.

* * *

To Be Continued

To see Alice's dress, go to http : / img . photobucket . com / albums / v510 / belismakr / RobertPiguet1950 . jpg


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: I am so sorry that it took this long to get this chapter out. I had massive computer difficulties that slowed me down greatly. But I can say that it never would have gotten out with the support of my beta, Lisa, and all of the encouragement I got from all of you through your emails and reviews. I hope this chapter is worth it;) Enjoy!

* * *

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?

by Kristen Elizabeth

* * *

_"Alice?"_

_"Hmm?"_

_"Are you all right?"_

_With her cheek on his chest, he could feel her smile against his skin. "I am so much better than just all right." She must have sensed the worry behind his question because she suddenly sat up and looked down at him. "Why? What's wrong?" _

_Jasper dug his hand into his tousled curls, fighting the urge to rip his hair out by the roots. "You were a virgin, darlin'."_

_"I think so," she admitted. "But I suppose I'll never know for sure." _

_He turned his head away from her. "I wanted this to be perfect." Alice deserved nothing less, but what had he given her? He'd wanted her so badly, but had he taken the time to make it good for her? Or had decades of instant gratification made it impossible for him to consider the pleasure of the woman who was rapidly becoming the center of his very existence?_

_"It was," she promised him. "You didn't hurt me, Jasper." Alice touched his lips with the tips of her fingers, gently urging him to look back at her. "Not at all."_

_"We should have waited," he said, almost to himself. Regret was a bitter taste in his mouth. "It shouldn't have been like this." _

_His words stabbed her and he felt the pain almost as soon as she did. "It wasn't good?" She bit her lower lip to keep it steady. "I'm sorry." _

_"Aw, hell, honey..." Sitting up, Jasper pulled her into his arms, crushing her tiny body against his. "Don't ever think that again, you hear me?" He rested his chin on the top of her head. "It was amazing." He silently cursed himself. "For me. But for you..."_

_Alice's body trembled in the tight circle of his embrace. "I've never felt anything like it," she whispered. _

_"Tonight was a first time for both of us," he continued after a few moments. _

_"What do you mean?" _

_"Well..." The silky soft skin of her back felt like heaven beneath his hands as he traced the length of her spine. "I'm no kind of virgin, Alice, but before tonight, I'd never made love." _

_Jasper wasn't sure if she kissed him or if he kissed her, but when their mouths met, desire flared up anew, hotter and more intense now that he knew what it felt like to be inside her. His lips never left hers as he guided her back to the pillows. He loved her mouth, so giving and yet demanding at the same time. Her body was so small beneath his, but so strong, too. The perfect combination of femininity and immortality. He drew back a few minutes later, looking down at her with a small smirk. Without a word, he ducked under the covers. _

_Alice laughed when he kissed the perfect indentation in her flat belly. But when he moved lower, her smile faded into apprehension. "Jasper?"_

_Having reached the sweet center of her body, Jasper soothed her with a quiet, "Shh...trust me." He would make this a night she would never forget. "I'll never hurt you, Alice. Never."_

_"I know. I trust you. I do...I..." Her reply was breathless and cut short by a surprised gasp as his tongue traced the cleft between her thighs. She gripped the covers with enough force to rip the fabric with her nails. "Jasper!"_

"Jasper?"

He felt Rosalie's hand on his shoulder, jerking him out of his memories so fast that it almost hurt. How much time had passed? He had no idea. It couldn't have been very long; he could still feel Alice all around him, although her footprints had disappeared in the snow. It was little wonder that his mind had retreated back to that night. She'd been ripped away from him, not only by outside forces, but by the strength of her own convictions. It seemed only natural for his mind to retreat back into his good memories rather than face reality.

"We're going after them," he announced.

It was the first thought that came to him...the only course of action as far as he was concerned. So when he glanced at Rosalie and Emmett for confirmation and saw the look that passed between them, it was all he could do to maintain control over his baser instincts, the ones telling him to grab them by the throats and shake them until they agreed. "That wasn't a suggestion," Jasper said between clenched teeth.

He and Alice had a silent language that they'd developed in the relatively short time they'd been together, but he could see now that they had nothing on Rosalie and Emmett. All it had taken was that one look and suddenly they were a united force. Stepping forward, Emmett cleared his throat. "There's nothing we can do, Jasper."

"Nothing we can do?" he repeated, each word thrown out like a dagger. "They took her!"

"No," Rosalie corrected him. "She left with them." She hesitated, like she was actually considering censoring herself. In the end, though, it simply wasn't in her nature to hold back, especially when she still felt angry and betrayed. "Stupid or not, right or wrong, it was her choice."

_Rile them up_, Jasper told himself. _Get them to the point where they'd agree to go anywhere with you. You've done it before and now you have a much better reason for abusing your power._

"Hey, I get it," Emmett said gravely, interrupting his plan. "If it were Rose out there, it'd take a better fighter than you to hold me back."

"Am I going to have to fight you?" Jasper snarled. "Because I will."

Rosalie fixed a cool look on him. "Is that what Alice would want?"

It was a simple, honest question, but for some reason, it cut Jasper to the core; he had to force himself to stay standing. No, Alice wouldn't want him fighting, especially against Emmett whom she loved like a big brother. If either of them were hurt, she'd never forgive him. Or herself.

Jasper's shoulders slumped. "I don't know what to do," he admitted, his words barely loud enough to be heard even by their advanced senses.

"We'll go back to the house," Rosalie told him. "Regroup with Carlisle and Esme. Then we'll go after them." Her jaw was tight with determination. "And we will bring them back safe."

He shook his head. "We'll never be able to track them if we wait. Their footprints are already gone. By then, their scent will be, too."

Emmett's chuckle ripped through the silent woods. "You don't really think that Edward wouldn't leave some kind of trail for us, do you? I know he's not much to look at, but the kid's kind of a genius like that."

"It's a good thing he's with her," Rosalie said in what could almost pass for a gentle tone. "Edward won't let anything happen to Alice."

It wasn't much comfort, but what could he do? On his own, he stood a slim chance of finding them at all. Maybe he wouldn't recognize Edward's trail, if it even existed. And maybe there were more of their kind with Silas and he would be grossly outnumbered if he did manage to catch up to them.

There were too many unknowns. In battle, unknown elements got you killed.

Jasper lowered his chin. "Fine," he spat out.

But, he told himself as they started back towards the Cullen house, he would be back in a matter of hours, with or without them. The reward, Alice's safety, was well worth the risk.

* * *

When Alice first felt Edward's hand delving beneath her skirt, she had no idea what to think. She didn't know what it felt like to dream, but perhaps she'd somehow fallen into one. It wasn't an entirely unpleasant thought, that all of this was just a dream, a figment of her unconscious imagination, and if she could just wake up, she'd be in Jasper's arms, waiting for the sun to rise.

Barely a second or two later, not even long enough to catch the attention of Silas or Lenora, Edward withdrew his hand. Alice could just make out a white edge of tulle sticking out of his tightly clenched fist. A wadded-up piece of her voluminous underskirt. Without a word, he ripped off a small section and draped it on the first branch he passed, his gait never faltering as they walked through the woods.

Alice swallowed. _What if they notice?_

Her brother gave no indication that he'd heard her thought. Whatever was blocking his power was still in place. If it was this frustrating to her, she couldn't imagine what it felt like for Edward.

"Alice?" Marjorie must have noticed how Alice began rubbing her temple because the girl hadn't spoken a word since they'd left the clearing. "I'm so sorry."

She shook her head. "It's not your fault."

But Marjorie just sniffed loudly. "I was on my way...to your house. It hadn't started to snow yet and I...I just wanted to see if you were all right." Her hands were still bound so she had to lift both to her face to scrub away tears. "They came out of nowhere and they were so fast, Alice. So strong. I thought...I was sure they were going to...to kill me."

"I'm not going to let that happen," Alice promised her. "It'll be all right."

"Where are we going?" Edward's question came out of nowhere, prompting Silas to turn his head and look back at him. "Where are you taking us?"

"Not too terribly far." Silas's assurance was anything but assuring. "Although..." He looked up at the darkening sky. "We'll never get there if we keep going at this pace."

Lenora had a solution. "Kill the human. She's slowing us down."

Alice didn't have to leap to her friend's defense. One look from Silas was enough to make Lenora wither. "That isn't the plan," he reminded her.

"I don't suppose you'd let us in on the plan," Edward asked. "In particular, our part in it?"

Silas slicked a smile onto his face. "Consider this an adventure, Edward. If you knew the outcome, what would be the fun of the journey?"

When Silas turned his back on them, Edward discreetly ripped another strip off the section of Alice's skirt he now carried in his pocket and flicked it into a bush. "Maybe I don't consider threats and kidnapping and manipulation all that fun."

"In time, son, you'll understand why they were necessary."

With bared teeth, Edward scowled, "Don't ever call me that."

Silas ignored him. "Lenora, can I trust you to find us adequate transportation?" He pointed to their left. "The main road is just a mile that way." With a nod, Lenora took off, too fast for human eyes to even see. Silas looked back at Alice and Edward. "Don't imagine that you can take advantage of this moment." He grabbed Marjorie's bound wrists and dragged her to his side. "The plan can always change."

"Why are you doing this?" Alice demanded. "You're torturing her...for what? To get to us?" She spread her hands helplessly. "You have us! We're here; we won't try to run. Just...let her go."

"I'm afraid that as much as I'd like to believe you, lovely Alice, I simply can't take the chance," Silas told her almost regretfully. "But don't worry. As long as you and Edward cooperate, no harm will come to her. You have my word."

Edward snorted. "She has no reason to trust your word."

"She really has no reason not to," Silas reminded him. "I've kept my promises. No one's been hurt."

A few minutes passed before they heard a car horn. Twin headlights beamed through the darkness. It was an older model Ford truck coming towards them that Edward recognized, having parked beside it several times at school. It belonged to a senior, Mark something, a baseball player. Good-looking, popular, decent student...and now probably lying on the side of the road with his throat ripped out. Edward grimaced. They weren't friends in any sense of the word, but the kid hadn't deserved such a pointless, violent death.

Lenora put the truck in park and leaned out of the window. "Adequate enough?"

"It'll do." Silas looked at Alice and gave a little bow. "Ladies first."

Alice looked at Edward who gave her a slight nod. Lenora climbed into the truck bed, dragging Marjorie with her, which left Alice and Edward to squeeze into the truck's cab with Silas when he got behind the wheel. They took off, the Ford's big tires rolling through snow and over branches, jostling them wildly as Silas cut through the woods back to the main road. Edward took the opportunity to rip out another handful of Alice's skirt. With Silas focused on driving, he never saw Edward throw a scrap of tulle out the window.

* * *

As expected, Esme didn't take the news well. Fortunately Carlisle arrived back at the house only a half hour after Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett returned, or there would have been no consoling her at all.

Jasper stood by the window, staring out at the snow-covered trees, as Rosalie filled the older couple in on everything that had happened in the woods. With his back to them, he couldn't see Esme bury her face in Carlisle's shoulder, but her overwhelming distress at the forced kidnapping of her favorite son and her newest daughter had his emotions, which were already on edge, even more tightly strung. There was so much pressure building up in his chest, and if he didn't do something...anything soon, he felt as though he would explode.

"I'm glad you didn't go after them," Carlisle said after Rosalie finished. Jasper turned his head to stare at the man he had just begun to trust. Carlisle held a hand up apologetically. "I would have completely understood if you had. Just hear me out first." He stopped for a moment; although he was keeping himself in check, mostly for his wife's sake, his worry ran just as deep as hers. "I found something out in town that we'll greatly benefit from knowing before we go after Alice and Edward."

Emmett frowned. "What's that?"

"On occasion, having a vampire for a doctor can actually benefit a patient more than endanger them," Carlisle began with a faint smile. "I've been known to diagnose with my nose. Sick blood smells different than healthy blood."

Jasper's fists clenched. "What's your point?"

It spoke to Carlisle's infinite patience that he ignored the younger man's tone. "When Rosalie mentioned Alice's new friend, she said that she had a particular smell."

"I believe I used the word 'stink," Rosalie corrected him.

"There are only one or two diseases that can affect the blood enough to make it literally off-putting," Carlisle continued. "The first that came to my mind is called leukemia."

"Leuki-whatta?" Emmett asked.

"Cancer of the blood," Rosalie replied with a sigh. "Next time we go to college, you're going to go pre-med."

Esme lifted her head from her husband's shoulder. "This girl could be sick?"

Carlisle shook his head sadly. "Not sick. Dying." He paused out of reverence. "I spoke to the hospital's pediatrician, to see if he recognized the girl's name. He did, from the work he does out of town." He rushed on. "Her name is Marjorie Davidson. Up until three months ago, she was in the care of social services and undergoing treatment for advanced leukemia at the big hospital in Evanston. She ran away from her foster family and no one's seen her since."

"So..." Emmett broke the silence. "Alice did it all for nothing? I mean, the chick's dying anyway, right? What's the point of saving her?"

"Emmett!" Esme's face was a mask of disappointment. "The length of her life doesn't matter. It's still precious."

"No, he's not wrong," Rosalie came to her husband's defense. "Because people who value their life don't run away from the treatments that could make them better."

Carlisle nodded slowly. "I agree that it doesn't make any sense."

Tossing her hair, Rosalie smirked. "I was right not to trust her, then." Her look grew dark. "I tried to tell Alice, but she didn't listen to me."

"Dying of a horrible disease doesn't make the girl untrustworthy, Rosalie," Esme chided her. "Alice was doing what she felt was right."

"C'mon. This sick girl just happens to show up around the same time that a group of vampires moves into the neighborhood. Alice and Edward's powers happen go haywire just before they happen to be taken by that group of vampires who just happen to grab the sick girl to use as leverage?" Emmett snorted. "If it's not all connected somehow, I'll eat all the meatloaf in the school cafeteria."

As they talked, Jasper was taking everything in, processing it with a mind that had been trained to both execute and recognize strategies. "It was a trap," he finally said. All eyes swung to him. "This girl might be dying, but she's not a victim. She befriended Alice...and then used that friendship to manipulate her." He was amazed that his voice remained so level, when all he wanted to do was tear apart the room.

"But why?" Esme wondered, her hands clasped at her heart. "Why would she do that?"

"She must be working with Silas," Emmett said. "Or maybe I should say 'for Silas'."

"Silas?" Carlisle reached across his wife to grab his adopted son's massive arm. "Is that the leader's name?" Emmett nodded, almost wincing at his father's impressive grip. "You never mentioned that!" Carlisle released him in order to run his hands through his blonde locks. "Oh...it's all starting to make sense now." He shook his head. "And it's not good. It's not good at all."

Rosalie raised an eyebrow. "I take it you know a Silas?"

"Yes, I did. A very long time ago." After a pause, Carlisle shot to his feet. "We're going after them. Tonight."

Jasper didn't hesitate to follow him out of the living room. He didn't need explanations. A plan of action that led to Alice was good enough for him.

* * *

They drove until just before dawn, slowed down somewhat, Edward felt, by the very truck that was supposed to have gotten them to their destination faster. A classmate had paid for their transportation with his life; it seemed rather in vain if they could only go forty or fifty miles per hour.

He had just decided that it was too dangerous to take any more material from Alice's petticoats when Silas hit the brakes. The truck groaned to a stop, protesting the long journey it had been forced to take. Silas glanced over at Alice and Edward. "We're here."

Edward climbed out first and offered Alice his hand as she followed, her eyes darting all around, examining their rocky surroundings in the pre-dawn light. "I don't know where we are," he said out loud, answering her silent question.

Alice blinked. "You heard that?" She closed her eyes. _I'm thinking of the number 10. If you can hear me, say it._

"Ten," Edward whispered.

She put a hand to her head. "They're coming to find us, Edward." It was a fight for her to keep from throwing her arms around her brother's neck in joy as a vision, an actual, crystal clear image of the future appeared to her. "I can see it! Jasper and Carlisle...they're on their way!"

Before they could marvel over the fact that their powers had reappeared as mysteriously as they'd vanished, Lenora shouted for Silas to join her. "I can't wake her up!" With her foot, she carelessly poked Marjorie's body which was slumped in a corner of the truck bed. "She just passed out cold."

Silas leapt into the back with inhuman agility. With one swift movement, his hand connected with Marjorie's pale cheek, slapping her hard enough to make her head swing to one side. "Wake up!" he hissed. "Now!"

Edward grabbed Alice's hand before she could run to her friend's aid. At that moment, Marjorie stirred. Her eyes opened and she put a hand to stinging face. Cowering under Silas's furious glare, she mumbled, "I'm sorry. I couldn't help it."

"Try harder." He lowered his voice. "You know what happens if you don't." Giving her a warning look, Silas stood up in the truck bed. He looked at Alice and Edward. "Forgive me. As you can see, she's unharmed. Our deal has not been broken."

_We can take him, Edward. Both of them. Two against two. _Alice glanced at her brother for confirmation. But his cold stare was fixed on Silas. He gave no indication that he'd heard her at all. And when Alice scanned the future, to see if her plan would even work, there was nothing but the dark clouds with which she'd become all too familiar.

"It's gone," she murmured. "The vision...I can't see Jasper anymore." Losing the image of his face to the darkness hurt. "But he's coming," she said firmly. "He won't stop until he finds us."

Before Edward could say anything, Lenora threw her head back and laughed, a hard, joyless sound. "Oh, that's adorable," she said with a cruel smile. "Making Jasper out to be a hero. Maria would find that positively entertaining."

It was a name from her lover's past that paralyzed Alice. She stared at the taller woman. "You're with Maria?"

"Was," Lenora corrected her. "Like I was with Jasper." Her smile morphed into a wicked smirk. "We were all together..."

"Lenora." Silas's voice cut through the cold air. "That'll do." He glanced down at Marjorie. She was shaking now; if possible, she seemed more terrified now than she had in the woods. "Take the girl," he ordered Lenora. "Alice and Edward, please, come with me. We're almost there."

Edward narrowed his eyes. "I'm not taking another step until you tell us exactly what you want us for."

"Miles away from home, in the middle of nowhere, and apparently without your so-called special power." Silas shook his head, amused. "You're hardly in a position to begin bargaining, son." He gestured to the illuminated east. "After you."

With heavy steps, and an even heavier glower marring his perfect face, Edward followed Silas. Alice started after him, but was stopped by Lenora's grabbing her arm. The woman's nails dug into her skin hard enough to make Alice blink in surprise.

"You can't not be wondering," Lenora murmured silkily. "Just how well do I know him?"

Alice looked her straight in the eye. "It doesn't matter." Lenora's sudden frown gave her strength to go on. "His past is a part of who he is and I love him entirely. Not in pieces."

If she'd had blood, Lenora's nails would have drawn it from her as she gripped Alice even harder. "You think so?" There was an evil glint her in red eyes. "You can't even begin to imagine what he's capable of. I saw it all first hand; I was right there with him. We made widows and orphans every night. And at dawn, with all that life running through us, we devoured each other." She leaned closer, putting her lips just at Alice's ear. "Does he devour you? It's one of his favorite things..."

Marjorie had been silent through all of this, but now, when she saw Alice's shoulders begin to shake, she bit her lip, tears springing to her eyes. "Alice, I'm sorry," she whispered. "I never meant..." She was cut off as Lenora released Alice and grabbed her arm instead, dragging her off in the direction Silas and Edward were heading.

Although she was well within eyesight of both Silas and Lenora, for a few seconds, Alice felt utterly alone.

_I'll never hurt you, Alice._

She closed her eyes. While she had no doubt that Jasper had meant every word, it was still a lie.

* * *

To Be Continued

To see the truck, go to http : / img . photobucket . com / albums / v510 / belismakr / ford . jpg


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: I am so so so so sorry for the unforgiveable length of time it's taken me to get this chapter out. I've been working on a few other projects and have been stretched pretty thin. But I missed this world and I made a promise a long time ago to finish this story no matter what, so, here it is. May be a bit short, but more is coming soon. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for all the kind words. I hope it was worth the wait;)

* * *

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life

by Kristen Elizabeth

* * *

One of the things Jasper had grown to respect about Carlisle was the fact that the man didn't feel the need to fill every empty silence with mindless chatter. So when, half an hour into their journey, Carlisle began to speak, Jasper did nothing to stop him. Whatever he had to say would no doubt be important.

"I've never told you how old I am, have I?"

Jasper kept his eyes on the ground lest he lose the memory of the path back to the spot where he'd last seen Alice. "You have ancient eyes."

Carlisle smiled faintly. "And you have a bit of the poet in your soul. Yes, I said soul," he added when Jasper snorted. "I have always believed that we keep our souls, despite what we are. If we didn't have souls, we couldn't make the choice we've made, to resist our thirsts and preserve human life."

If the older man was waiting for him to argue against this, he'd be waiting forever. Jasper had started believing in souls again the day he'd met his pixie.

"It took me many years...many decades, really...to make peace with what I'd become," Carlisle continued. "During that time, I sought out others of our kind for guidance. What I found discouraged me." Jasper glanced at him; whatever memory he was lost in...it was a troubling one. "You know of the Volturi, Jasper."

It wasn't a question, but Jasper answered, "Yes. My maker, Maria, took great pains to avoid their attention."

Carlisle nodded. "I stayed with them once, quite a long time ago." This surprised Jasper. What he knew of the Volturi didn't suit the compassionate nature of the man beside him. "I parted ways with them, under amiable terms, when I realized that they would change me long before I would change them. Still, I don't regret the time I spent with them. It taught me so much more about myself than I ever would have learned on my own." He paused. "I discovered the face of a true monster. Everything I've done since then was to ensure that I would never resemble it."

Alice's words haunted Jasper, cutting straight to his unbeating heart. _Only a monster would let her be killed and do nothing to stop it... _He kicked a dead branch out of his path with more force than necessary.

If Carlisle noticed, he said nothing. "I remember that time so clearly. The faces of the Volturi will always be frozen in my mind," Carlisle mused. "But one in particular stands out now. A man named Silas."

"You do know him, then?" Jasper's teeth ground together. "The one who took Alice?"

"I believe he may be the same man I knew, yes. Silas was with the Volturi at the same time I stayed with them. He was actually very close to Aro, which I admit I found odd." Without being bidden, Carlisle explained, "Silas had no particular talent, no supernatural power that set him apart from the crowd. Aro seeks out those who are extraordinary; he rarely bothers with those who aren't."

"Were they...?" Jasper hinted. He wasn't a stranger to such notions; he'd seen relationships form amongst the men he'd commanded, fueled by war and fear and desperation for human contact in the middle of hell.

Carlisle shook his head. "No. As a matter of fact, they had a falling out, just before I left for the New World."

"Over what?"

"A woman. Her name was..."

Jasper suddenly stopped. The barest hint of a very familiar scent hung in the air. Inhaling deeply, Jasper searched for the source, turning wild circles in the snow. "Here," he declared. "She was here."

Carlisle glanced around the woods with eyes that saw as clearly in the dark as they did in the light. "Where?"

The scent was stronger near the trees. As Jasper moved towards them, he could just make out a scrap of fabric caught on a twisted limb. "Alice!" He grabbed it and pressed it to his lips. The sweet smell of his lover made his head spin. "She left this for me," he murmured. "She wants to be found."

When Jasper took off running, all Carlisle could do was follow.

* * *

Not far from the spot where they'd abandoned the beat-up truck, the ground gave way to rock leading up to a dramatic cliff over which a half-frozen river tumbled down to an icy pool. It was to this snowy grotto in the middle of the woods that Silas and Lenora had led them. As Alice stood at the edge, staring at the jagged stones and freezing water below, Edward approached her from behind and took her hand.

"What do they want, Edward?" she whispered.

He shook his head. "I don't know. But it must be something they don't think we'd want to do without...persuasion."

"So, it must be wrong then." Her fingers were cold even to his touch. Together, they watched as Lenora started down the rocky cliff with a terrified-looking Marjorie. "That..." She searched for the right word. "...witch. She knows Jasper. Really knows him, Edward."

"I overheard." His jaw clenched and he gripped her hand tighter. "Don't pay attention to her."

Alice lowered her chin. "That's easier said than done." She shook her head. "I said terrible things to him back there." Her chin trembled. "I called him a monster."

"Aren't we all, in our own way?"

Edward turned his darkest glare onto the man who'd taken them so far from their home. "Speak for yourself."

Silas laughed as he offered Alice his hand. "Come. It's a rather tricky path down."

"I'd rather risk falling," Alice told him haughtily.

"Oh, Alice." He clucked his tongue in disappointment. "I would have thought that living with Carlisle, even for such a short time, would have taught you some manners."

"You know Carlisle?" Edward asked sharply. "How?"

Silas waved away his question. "There will be plenty of time for all of that. Right now, I really must insist that you come with me." His tone turned colder than the snow beneath their feet. "If I have to throw you both down, I will. It's not as if you wouldn't survive."

The path turned out to be more treacherous than tricky. If not for Edward's helping hand and her own supernatural sense of balance, Alice felt certain she would have plummeted straight to the bottom and broken every bone in her body on the way down. She felt a great rush of relief when her feet finally touched solid ground.

The roar of the icy waterfall drowned out almost all other sounds, but Alice could hear Silas calling for them from a few yards away. "Come," he beckoned. "Meet my other guests."

Together, Alice and Edward walked around the snowy banks of the pond. Behind the waterfall there was a rocky opening to a cave buried deep in the cliff. Again, Edward took her hand as they climbed up the slippery rocks and ventured into the dripping mouth of the cavern.

Someone struck a match; the sound bounced off the walls and the sudden flare of light startled Alice. It was Lenora lighting an old oil lamp. Not that it was necessary. Even in the sheer darkness, Alice had been able to see Silas's so-called guests.

A half-dozen young men and women, none of whom Alice recognized from school, were huddled together in a far corner of the cave. Their clothes were dirty and torn and they were all shivering uncontrollably, but whether it was from the cold or from fear, Alice couldn't tell. They were human; their scent was unmistakable. Standing over them, though, like a tiny sentry, was a boy who was decidedly inhuman. Nine, perhaps ten years old, but with the piercing red eyes that meant his life had been taken from him before he'd even begun to live it.

Silas clapped his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Edward, Alice...I'd like you to meet Johnny." He looked down at him with pride. "My son."

Edward was appalled. "You changed a child? What kind of a sick bastard are you?"

"Don't be so quick to condemn me, Edward. Judging by your face, you were barely more than a child yourself when Carlisle made you." Silas went on, "Johnny has a special talent that I simply was not willing to wait for." He nodded at the boy. "You can tell them."

When Johnny grinned, he revealed a missing tooth. Did he know that he'd have that empty spot in the front of his mouth forever? "I know where our kind are. I see them in my head. I can even see their names and how old they are."

"Johnny is my eyes and ears. Of course, he might become somewhat obsolete now that I have this lovely creature." Silas walked to Alice and took her hands. She tried not to flinch, but his fingers were like ice. "Open her mind, Marjorie. I want to see what she sees."

Alice froze. "What did you say?" She slowly turned to look at the girl standing beside Lenora. "Marjorie?"

"Forgive me for keeping you in the dark for so long, Alice," Silas apologized. "It was entirely necessary for things to go smoothly."

"I don't understand," Alice whispered. As she watched Marjorie without blinking, Lenora undid the ropes around her wrists. When her hands were free, Marjorie tucked them under her armpits and looked down at the ground, avoiding Alice's eyes. "What is he talking..." She stopped with a gasp as a vision appeared to her out of the misty darkness. Jasper's face, determined, set in his course as he ran through the woods. "How did you..." Marjorie snuck a sheepish look at her. "You...did this to me?" Alice's shock was slowly turning to anger. "You took away my visions?"

Silas shook his head. "More like she turned them off for a little while. Like she's turned down the volume on Edward's power. Marjorie is exceptionally gifted at controlling the gifts of others; I'm incredibly fortunate not to have killed her when I found her hiding in the woods. Imagine! If she has this much skill as a human, what will she be capable of when she's one of us?"

Edward put a protective arm around Alice's shaking shoulders. "You are the real monster," he told Silas between his teeth. "And you're not going to hurt my sister anymore!"

"The last thing on earth I want to do is to hurt Alice," Silas assured him. "She's far too valuable." He offered Edward a smile. "As are you, I might add."

"I'm sorry, Alice. I really am." Marjorie sniffed loudly. "I didn't have a choice. And I didn't know...how could I know...that you'd be so nice?"

"She should apologize for being your friend when no one else was?" Edward shot back. "This is how you repay her kindness?"

"I can speak for myself, Edward." Alice stepped away from her brother and approached Marjorie. "We always have choices," she said. "Tell me why you chose this."

Marjorie lowered her wet eyelashes. "You can't see it?" A second passed. "I'm dying."

Silas broke the silence that followed. "That remains to be seen. In the meantime, though, there's much to be done." He turned to the half-frozen humans. "How are all of you? I trust my son's been keeping a good eye on you? Giving you plenty of food and water?" He glanced down at a pile of charred logs. "I see he let the fire go out."

Johnny looked like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Sorry."

"It's all right, son." Silas ruffled the boy's dirty-blonde hair. "They're all still alive. That's the important thing."

"Important for what?" Edward asked. "Start giving us answers." His voice banged off the walls. "Now!"

Silas sighed. "Oh, we simply don't have time for lengthy explanations. Marjorie." The girl tore her guilty stare away from Alice and focused on him. "Be a dear and let Edward hear again."

It was Alice's turn to grasp Edward's arm, to steady him as he stumbled backwards a second later. "The voices?" she whispered.

He nodded, his face screwed up in pain. "The humans...they're terrified. They know...they've been told what they're here for."

Alice didn't want to ask. She didn't even want to think it. _What are they here for?_

Edward opened his eyes. "To start a war."

* * *

To Be Continued


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: Another not-so-long chapter, but I'm facing a deadline on a "real world" project, so I don't know how much time I'll have to devote to this story over the next week or two. Didn't want to leave you dangling too long! Thank you so much, everyone, for sticking with this one. Enjoy!

* * *

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?

by Kristen Elizabeth

* * *

It felt as though he'd been running forever, yet Jasper could have run a million more miles without needing to stop. In his pocket, he'd stuffed at least twenty scraps of Alice's skirt that he and Carlisle had found along the way. Some had been carefully placed on branches and bushes, but more of the recent ones had been carelessly tossed on the snow...by a set of tire tracks.

They didn't speak as they raced through the woods. Even when one of them spotted a piece of lace, they only briefly paused to collect it before moving on. Jasper's thoughts were too scattered for conversation and he had a feeling Carlisle was too busy trying to figure everything out to talk, anyway. Personally, Jasper didn't so much care about the why's of the situation. Only the how's. How was he going to find Alice? How would she be when he found her? How was he going to convince her to forgive him for all of his shortcomings? How soon until he'd be allowed to hold her again?

He was concentrating so hard on his last memory of Alice's face that although he was several paces ahead of Carlisle, he didn't see the truck first. It was only when he heard the older man call out his name that Jasper slowed to a halt.

The beat-up truck had been abandoned with the passenger's side door still open. Carlisle walked to the car and gave it a quick examination, like it was a patient at the hospital. He put his foot on the back bumper and bounced it up and down. "There's still gas in tank," Carlisle said upon hearing a sloshing sound from inside. "That means..." He looked around. "This must have been their intended destination."

Jasper shook his head. "There's nothing here."

Carlisle ignored his comment and started walking past the car. Jasper followed him to the rocky edge of a cliff.

"Silas had a flair for the dramatic." Carlisle peered down at the winter waterfall. "This place would appeal to him."

A moment passed. "Why do you think he wants her?" Jasper finally asked. "You must have some idea."

"If he only wanted Alice, I'd say he simply wants to see the future. But don't forget, he's taken Edward as well. He's collecting gifts. Like someone else we both once knew." Carlisle paused. "But he didn't take you, Jasper."

Jasper frowned. "That's significant?"

"I think it is." The older man glanced at him. "It's a long way down. Shall we?"

A cold wind swept over them and in that moment, Jasper was certain of one thing. Alice was near. Very near.

With renewed energy, they began searching for the best path down the rocks.

* * *

"A war?" Silas's laughter filled the dark cavern, making the humans on the ground at his feet huddle together even closer. "Edward, my boy, it's so much simpler than that. Wars are...unpredictable. Messy. They can drag on for years with no end in sight." Smiling, he shook his head. "No. I have no intention of declaring war."

"Then you lied to these people?" Having regained control over his power, Edward gestured at the humans. "Because they all think they're going to become your army."

"Oh, they are," Silas agreed.

Edward glared at him. "I suppose I shouldn't expect a mad man to make any sense."

Silas shook his finger. "Ah, but madness is in the eye of the beholder."

Alice was so caught up listening to their exchange that she didn't even notice Marjorie come up beside her. "I need you to understand why I did what I did," Marjorie began, startling her enough so that Alice literally jumped. "But I don't know if you can."

She put a hand to against her unbeating heart. "Why's that?"

"Because you're never going to die. Are you?"

Turning her head slightly, Alice looked at the girl next to her. Only now did she recognize the limpness of the girl's hair, the yellow tinge to her skin, and the bags under her eyes as signs of illness, rather than unfortunate facial characteristics. "I have died," she told the girl. "I don't remember it, but I have." She turned the rest of the way, to face Marjorie. "What's wrong with you?"

"They told me it's cancer in my blood." Marjorie's eyes watered. "There's not a cure, but they were trying all kinds of stuff at the hospital. All of it hurt, Alice. Made me even sicker. I couldn't take it anymore. I just ran." She wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. "Kind of stupid. I mean..." She glanced at Silas and then Lenora. "Look who found me."

Alice hesitated for a moment. "Have you always had your power?"

Marjorie shook her head. "I didn't know until I met them. Lenora...she went to bite me, but I guess...I guess I didn't smell right or something." She took a breath. "I was so scared, I couldn't even talk. She tried to...it's her power...she makes you say things. Things you don't want to say. Silas says she takes away your filter, whatever that means." Lifting her shoulder, she went on, "Anyway, when she tried to get me to say what was wrong with me...why I smelled different...I just...I don't know. I could feel her trying to get into my head. And I just...stopped her. She was so angry, but Silas...he told me that if I passed a test, he wouldn't kill me." She cleared her throat. "You were my test, Alice."

"That day in History class?" Alice closed her eyes against the memory of the pain and the missing time. She opened them again, remembering something else from that day. "But before that...on the road to school that morning?"

"That was Silas," Marjorie said. "He wanted to know if you could see him coming." She reached for Alice's hand. "I had to do what I did, Alice. And I had to keep going once I knew that I could. He wanted your visions blocked, so you couldn't tell what he was planning. Then he wanted to see if I could make someone's power stronger, too. So...I did. With Edward."

Alice stared at the girl's hand as it gripped hers. "You hurt him. He was in so much pain." She yanked her hand away. "There's no excuse for that."

"Please understand!" Marjorie begged. "I had to do it!"

"And then you tricked us." Alice touched her suddenly aching head. "I thought I was saving your life. I turned my back on my family...the people I love. But it was all a lie. Your life was never in danger, was it?"

The girl's eyes overflowed again. "I'm so sorry, Alice. He told me that if I helped him take over..."

"Marjorie." Silas gestured to her with a look that left no room for protesting. "Come here."

Dutifully, the girl went to his side, leaving Alice alone with Edward.

"Without a doubt, that man is insane." Edward glanced at his sister. "What did you get from the girl?"

Alice wrapped her arms around her chest, literally holding herself together. "I think I know now why Jasper and I fought the other night and back in the woods." Despite the situation, a small smile turned up the corners of her lips. "We lost our filters."

Edward arched an eyebrow. "Okay."

She let out a small, breathless chuckle. "I sound insane, too?"

"Little bit," he admitted.

Alice leaned against him. "At least I'm in good company then." Staring at Silas with her cheek against Edward's upper arm, she went on in her mind. _If he wants an army, but he claims he doesn't want to start a war, what do you think he..._

All of a sudden, Johnny began calling for Silas. "Outside!" the boy announced when he had everyone's attention. "Two of them. They're almost at the pond." He squinted his red eyes. "One's very old. Three hundred. The other...almost a hundred."

Edward and Alice exchanged a look. _Jasper! _Alice thought, trying to keep her expression subdued. _Carlisle! They're here! _Edward blinked, all the confirmation she needed.

Silas, apparently, had the same thought. "It's sooner than I'd expected, but perhaps having a house full of eternal teenagers has kept my old friend Carlisle in good shape."

"Will you tell him why you've taken us and what you plan to do with them?" Edward asked, indicating the humans.

"Lenora," Silas said, ignoring Edward's question. "Greet our guests, would you?

She shot a lascivious look at Alice, practically licking her lips in anticipation. "With pleasure."

When she was gone, Silas laughed. "She has her uses, but she really is quite a whore. Vicious bitch," he added affectionately. "But what can you expect of someone who survived a Volturi death sentence?"

"How did she do that?" Edward asked.

"I don't actually know." Silas paused. "Yet." After a moment, his smile returned. "You are just full of questions, Edward."

Alice didn't have to look at Edward's face to know he was scowling. "Still waiting for some answers."

"In good time," Silas assured him. "All in good time."

They watched him go to Johnny and pat his head, like a pet who'd done something good. Alice shook her own head. _We can't even run now, can we? _She looked at the cold, frightened humans. _We can't just leave them. _

Edward's reply was so soft that she had to strain to hear it over the echo of the waterfall outside. "He's planning something big. I want to know what it is."

_You can't read him?_

Her brother shook his head. "He's hiding behind other thoughts." Before Alice could ask, he looked down at her. "He wants you. And not just for your gift."

For the first time in the life she could remember, Alice felt sick.

* * *

Impatient to reach the bottom of the cliff, Jasper let go of the rocky shelf he was perched upon, covering the last fifty feet to the ground with a single backwards leap. After landing on the snow in a low crouch, he straightened up, turned around and came face to face with the one person he didn't want to see.

Lenora smirked. "Still such a gentleman, Jasper. Charging to a lady's rescue even after she left you behind in the cold."

"Where is she?" Jasper demanded with a low growl in the back of his throat.

"She's close." The woman let out an exaggerated sigh of sorrow. "But don't be surprised if she's not as eager to reunite as you are. She's learned a great deal about you since you were parted." Lenora's lip curled up in disgust. "The real you, not this...pathetic, neutered animal-drinker she's turned you into."

Like a bolt of lightning that struck with no warning thunder, Jasper grabbed Lenora by the throat. Although she didn't need the air supply he cut off by squeezing his fingers around her neck, her eyes grew wide. She clawed at his hand wildly, but Jasper held on. "The only thing she's turned me into is someone I can stand to look at in the mirror." He yanked her closer to hiss in her ear. "And if you did anything...anything at all to hurt her in any way, I will destroy you."

"Jasper." He heard his name a moment before he felt Carlisle's hand on his shoulder. "Let her go, son."

"I'm not your son," Jasper snarled. "And we're not playing by your rules here!" Carlisle slowly removed his hand and stepped back. To Lenora, Jasper continued, "Now I'm going to ask one more time before I get angry. Where is she?"

* * *

In her mind, Alice saw Lenora's decision to run for her life. Having no idea what prompted the vision, Alice grabbed Edward's arm. _Something's happening out there. _The wind whipped through Lenora's hair as she ran, but she stopped abruptly, like she'd hit an invisible wall. Alice could see Lenora's defeated face so clearly. The vision ended there; she blinked and looked up at Edward. Although he was staring straight at Silas, she knew he was listening to her intently. _She tried to run away. She didn't get far before..._

A shadow suddenly blocked the light filtering into the cavern through the waterfall. All eyes swung back to the mouth of the cave to see Lenora standing at the entrance. A second later, she stumbled forward at the urging of a second figure who followed her inside.

"Jasper!" Alice let go of Edward and began to run, her steps steady and certain even on the moist rocks. She passed Lenora without a thought and threw herself into Jasper's arms.

* * *

To Be Continued

To see inside the cave, go to: http : / img . photobucket . com / albums / v510 / belismakr / cave2 . jpg


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: Thank you so much to Lisa for looking this over, and to everyone who's read and reviewed so far. I've said it before and I'll say it again…your kind words keep me going.

* * *

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?

by Kristen Elizabeth

* * *

Entering the cavern was Jasper's worst nightmare come to life.

The scent of the humans was overwhelming; his throat burned like it was on fire and even cutting off the flow of oxygen into his lungs didn't help much. If not for Alice distracting him, he had no idea what he would have done to the half dozen frightened people huddled together at the far end of the cave.

But it wouldn't have made the angel in his arms smile.

He wrapped his arms around Alice and lifted her off the ground, holdin her as close as he could, like she was his shield against his baser instincts. Jasper was surprised feel a sudden wave of bitter envy directed straight at him, powerful enough to cut through the fear coming off the humans. Immediately his eyes swung to Edward, but it wasn't coming from the kid; he actually seemed far more relieved than resentful. That, Jasper supposed, was a weight off his shoulders.

"Deep down, I knew you'd come," Alice whispered in his ear, inadvertently distracting him from seeking out the source of the feeling. "I'm so sorry, Jazz, for everything. Please forgive me."

He reluctantly set Alice down on her tiny feet. There were so many things he wanted to tell her, but they would have to wait. All he could do right then was press a kiss against her forehead and hope that she understood his silence.

"Jasper, welcome." From the second Silas stepped forward, Jasper knew where the jealousy was coming from. It made him hold onto Alice even harder, especially when the man's eyes raked over her body. Still looking at Alice, Silas continued, "Lenora, this isn't exactly what we planned, is it?"

Furiously scowling, Lenora tossed her hair. "You know what the say about the best laid plans."

Silas raised an eyebrow. "We'll discuss that later. But where is Carlisle? It's not a party without all of our guests."

"I'm right here, Silas." Upon entering the cavern, Carlisle stopped beside Alice and Jasper. "It's been a long time."

"Centuries," Silas agreed. "It's wonderful to see you, old friend."

There was no joy in Carlisle's smile. "I wish I could say the same." He looked at Edward. "Why have you taken my children by force?"

"Now I know where Edward gets his inquisitiveness," Silas laughed. "Not a thought for the humans, Carlisle? You were always so fond of them." He walked to Edward and clapped a hand on his shoulder which Edward violently shook off. "Unless, I suppose, you're in the mood for a companion. Then all your great morals go out the window, no?"

Carlisle ignored him. "If you're looking for a fight, Silas, we already have you outnumbered and we're not all even here."

"Do you really think I intend to challenge your family to a fight and risk the life of this beauty?" Silas gestured to Alice. "Never."

Jasper put his arm around Alice, pulling her closer to his body. "What do you want?" he growled.

"What do I want?" Silas repeated, his grin fading. "I want what should be mine, Jasper." When Jasper looked down at Alice, Silas sighed impatiently. "Is that all your limited mind can comprehend?" He looked at Alice apologetically. "Not that you wouldn't be worth starting a war over, my dear, but I'm after a much bigger prize."

Getting nowhere fast, Carlisle turned to his son. "What's in his head, Edward?"

"He's still holding a lot of it back," Edward replied. "I almost have to give him credit for being able to do that."

"Maybe he has help," Alice said, looking straight at Marjorie.

The girl vehemently shook her head. "I'm not doing anything, I swear!"

Edward paused for a long moment, as if making absolutely certain of what he was hearing before said it out loud. "Cecily. He can't hide that name, especially when he looks at Alice." He glanced at his sister. "You remind him of her."

"Cecily?" If possible, Carlisle face grew even paler. "No. Silas...you can't still be..."

"Why can't I?" Silas's voice echoed off the cave walls, bringing even the sobs of two of the youngest human women to a sudden, startled stop. "She was everything to me! He knew that and still...still he just let her..." He dragged a hand down his face to compose himself. "Did you really think that even after almost three hundred years I would just forget what happened?"

Carlisle shook his head. "Forgiveness isn't something we should abandon when we cease to be human."

"Well. You always were a saint in a demon's body, weren't you?" Silas snarked. "But I'm not burdened with an over-abundance of virtue, old friend. I prefer my vengeance to be well-planned, well-timed and well-executed. And that, Edward and sweet Alice, is where you come in."

As he continued to talk, he walked towards Alice and Jasper. "It's not your face that brings back memories, Alice. In fact, you don't look a thing like my Cecily. She was beautifully robust with curls so long a man could strangle himself with them. No...it's what you see in here, in your mind that takes me back to her." Silas tried to touch Alice's temple, but the look that came over Jasper's face stopped his hand. "Cecily had visions, too. It's how we found her on the streets of Paris, selling herself for a few pieces of copper. It's why we didn't kill her right away. She knew we were coming for her."

Alice hesitated. "Who was she?"

Without blinking, Silas said, "She was going to be my wife."

"And Aro's greatest acquisition," Carlisle added angrily. "It wasn't right; she had her whole life ahead of her!"

"What kind of a mortal life would she have led?" Silas stepped back from Alice. "Plagues and filth and twenty drunk men a night between her thighs, only to die giving birth to a bastard in some back alley? No. To deny her immortality and condemn her to that hell...that would have been the true cruelty."

Carlisle's reply was painfully quiet. "She would have never truly belonged to you. He wouldn't have allowed it."

"That, old friend, is exactly why we're all here." With his slick smile back in place, Silas continued, "The time of the dusty, yet still sanctimonious sovereign is over! We live in a new age in a new world, so far removed from the old. We are the future." He paused for effect. "They are the past."

Seeing clearly now into Silas's mind, Edward drew in a sharp breath. "My god...you are insane."

Silas went on, undaunted. "My family and yours, Carlisle." He gestured to the humans. "Along with the one we'll build right here. Together, we will bring down what has long needed to be ousted. We will usher in a new era; we will lead our kind into the next millennium." There was a frightening gleam in his red eyes. "And death to anyone who tries to stop us."

Alice looked up at Jasper. "I don't understand," she whispered. The stony set of his jaw made her reach up to touch his face. "Jazz? What's going on?"

"The crazy bastard..." Jasper shook his head numbly. "He wants to overthrow the Volturi."

* * *

"All of this." Carlisle's voice cut through the silence that fell over the cave in the wake of Silas's speech. "All of this...because of Cecily?"

Silas threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, trust Carlisle Cullen to drag human emotion into every little thing. Of course I want my revenge. The woman I loved was murdered! But it's so much more than that." Silas turned to Lenora. "Tell them of the mercy of the Volturi, my dear. And please, spare no detail."

With her eyes on Jasper, Lenora stepped forward. "We had no warning. They arrived just before the sun rose. Five of them. There were twenty of us. By the time the sun came up, only my sister and I were still standing."

"Where was Maria?" Jasper automatically asked. Alice looked down at the ground, a sudden pain having stabbed her unbeating heart.

"I don't know," Lenora said frostily. "Conveniently away."

Carlisle cleared his throat. "But you survived."

"Yes," Lenora said.

"How?" Jasper demanded.

Lenora tossed her hair. "They surrounded us. I couldn't even move. Couldn't see, couldn't speak...there was a fog around everything. And then...it was gone. I could hear my sister yelling at me to run." She bit her lip for a long second. "So I did."

"And your sister?" Carlisle gently asked.

Lenora glared at him. "What do you think? The Volturi don't take prisoners. They don't offer second chances. They condemn you to die without ever letting you defend yourself. We might kill, but they murder."

"You know this to be true, Carlisle," Silas said. "You've seen it happen. You know the resources Aro keeps by his side, his little twin demons and his self-righteous code of conduct. He has declared himself judge, jury and executioner over our entire kind and it's high time someone stood up and did something about him."

"And you truly believe you're that person?" Carlisle shook his head. "If Cecily had lived to become one of us, she would be at his side right now. You'd be calling for her downfall, too."

"But she didn't live, did she?" he snapped. "Not a drop of blood spilt," Silas went on, speaking to Alice as though she was his confidant. "Just her beautiful neck snapped in two. Like she wasn't even worth drinking."

Alice looked straight at him. "Who killed her?"

Silas stared back at her for a few seconds before abruptly changing the subject. "Your son seems to think I'm insane, Carlisle, but you're not protesting my plan. Should I take this to mean you're not entirely opposed to the idea?"

"This is your fight, Silas, and I doubt anything I say will sway you from the course you've chosen." Carlisle stepped closer to him. "But my family won't be part of it, especially as it involves turning innocent people into dispensable warriors."

"Is that so? And you speak for every member of your little family?"

Carlisle lifted his chin. "They speak for themselves, but I know them well enough to know where they will stand on this."

Silas smirked. "We shall see." With that, he turned to face the huddle of humans. After looking them over for a moment, he approached them and knelt down in front of a young woman. Shivering, she drew away from him as much as she could. "It's all right, dear." Silas reached for her hand. "What's your name?"

"Linda," the woman said between chattering teeth.

Stroking her hand, Silas smiled. "Come with me, Linda."

Tears streaked down her cheeks. "Please don't hurt me."

"Everything will be all right." Silas pulled her to her feet, still holding onto her hand. "Johnny?" At his biding, the boy reached into the pocket of his dark denim jeans and withdrew a small object. He handed it to his maker with a gap-toothed grin.

Even the dull light of the cave reflected off the metal of the blade Silas exposed a second later. The vision that came upon Alice all of a sudden left her unable to say anything more than a sharp, "No!"

Silas dragged the tip of the pocketknife across Linda's palm. It was a shallow cut, eliciting only a startled gasp from the woman, and it took a second for a thin line of blood to ooze up from the wound.

The rich iron scent hit Jasper like a battering ram. Everything, including Alice, fell away as he growled and lunged.

* * *

To Be Continued

To see Cecily, go to http : / img . photobucket . com / albums / v510 / belismakr / cecily2v2 . jpg


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: I can't say enough about my beta and friend, Lisa. Anything remotely cool about this chapter is most likely her doing. Thank you for stopping by for a twelfth time;) I realize the chapters seem a little short lately…the action's picking up a bit (I hope), so that's why. Or I could just be an eager posting beaver. Either way…enjoy!

* * *

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?

by Kristen Elizabeth

* * *

_"Can I join you?"_

_If the Tennessee twang hadn't given him away, the sheer mass of the body that plopped down next to Jasper on the back porch steps would have. With his eyes still closed, Jasper lifted his shoulders. "Why not?" _

_Emmett glanced over at him. "I guess you don't feel like talking." _

_"You've guessed right." _

_The biggest member of the Cullen family squinted in the glare of the dying sun. "You ever gonna feel like talking?"_

_Jasper opened his eyes. "Did someone send you out here? Was it Carlisle?" He frowned. "Alice?" _

_"Hey, nobody sends me anywhere." Emmett hesitated, rethinking. "Well, Rose does, but that doesn't count." Jasper snorted. A moment passed before Emmett spoke again. "If I asked you a question and you answered it, would that count as us talking?"_

_"I believe that would be the very definition of us talking," Jasper muttered. He gave in with a sigh. He'd only known Emmett for three weeks, but he already knew the man wasn't the type to back down once he'd set his mind to something. "Ask your question."_

_"What was it like..." After a long search for the right wording, Emmett came up with, "...killing people?" _

_It wasn't a question Jasper had expected. Blinking, he stared at Emmett's genuinely curious expression. "You've never...?" _

_"Oh hell, yeah. I've slipped up." Embarrassed, Emmett scratched the top of his head. "Couple times, matter of fact. It was always a big deal, though. Once, we even had to move. So I'm just wonderin'...what's it like when it's not a big deal? When it's just...you know...the way you live?" _

_"What do you want to hear me say?" Jasper asked after a long minute of silent thought. "That it's easier than this life? Of course it is. There's no guilt. There are no consequences. Take what you want, drink when you will, deny yourself nothing." He paused. "It becomes so easy to forget who you were." _

_Emmett snorted. "Carlisle's always saying that. 'Remember who you are'."_

_"I didn't say 'are'. I said 'were'." Jasper watched the sun dip below the dark green fringe of trees. "When you live that life...when you feed from them and it isn't, as you say, a big deal, you can't be one of them anymore. You can't live like this," he said, indicating everything from the stately house behind them, to the expensive cars in the garage, to the Weejun loafers on Emmett's feet. _

_"Huh." Emmett pondered this for a second. "But you gave it all up for Shortcake." _

_Jasper ignored his use of Alice's brand-new nickname; she might have loved it, but he wasn't entirely comfortable with how quickly she'd become attached to the Cullens. "Does it matter why I did it?" _

_"Sure it does! 'Cause what we do ain't at all easy. There's a hell of a lot of guilt and a whole lot of consequences when you mess up. So if you don't got a real good reason for doin' it..." _

_"You probably wouldn't ever succeed," Jasper finished. "Or even try." _

_Emmett nodded. "That's my way of thinkin', at least." _

_They sat in silence until the sun disappeared behind the trees and stars began to appear on the dark blue twilight sky. Finally, when he sensed that Emmett could no longer stand the stillness and quiet, Jasper asked, "Why do you do it?" _

_"You gotta ask?" Emmett shrugged his massive shoulders. "But even if Rose didn't figure into it...I've still got family alive, you know? Brothers and sisters. I can't ever see 'em, but they're out there. And when I really stop and think about it...I don't think I could just kill without feeling at least a little bit bad about it. 'Cause everyone I kill is someone's brother or sister. You know?" _

_Instead of reply, Jasper stood. "I think I should hunt tonight." He looked down at Emmett. "Carlisle doesn't think I should go alone yet." _

_It wasn't exactly an invitation, but Emmett leapt to his feet with a grin. "Finally! I am so sick of hunting with Edward. You don't seem like you mind gettin' your shirt dirty." He lowered his voice. "Just between you and me, that kid really needs to loosen up. You know...with a woman." _

_Jasper smiled wryly. "The thought has occurred to me, as well." _

* * *

Having seen Alice's vision of Jasper's teeth sinking into Linda's neck, Edward sprang forward only a split second after Jasper lunged. But he didn't get far before his path was cut short by Lenora. Quick and deadly, she tackled him to the ground and pinned him there, his head twisted to the side and kept down by one slender, but infinitely strong hand.

"Easy, pretty boy," she cooed into his ear. "And I won't be rough with you...unless that's what you want." He couldn't reply with her fingers digging into his cheek; all he could do was struggle to throw her off.

But Edward relaxed, even under Lenora's grip, when Carlisle reached Jasper at the exact second he stopped in his tracks, only inches away from Linda and her open wound.

Frozen, like he'd been struck by lightning, every muscle in Jasper's body was tightly corded with the effort it had taken him to come to a complete halt so close to the one thing in the world that would relieve his burning thirst.

He felt Carlisle's hand on his arm and although his first instinct was to throw it off, Jasper did nothing. The control he'd managed to gain over himself was so new and so tenuous...he had no idea how long it would last. If it didn't, as much as he hated to admit it, he would need Carlisle to hold him back.

"Jasper..." Alice's sweet voice called to him, but he couldn't quite bring himself to turn away from Linda as she stood in front of him, cradling her bleeding hand against her chest. "Jasper, please look at me."

Carlisle's voice was low and calm. "Keep talking to him," he urged Alice. "Help him stay connected."

But Silas spoke before she could continue. "How long can you hold out, Jasper?" Linda was too terrified to stop him from prying her hand open to show off the smeared blood and angry cut across her palm. He inhaled deeply, sighing with longing. "I'll bet she's sweet."

From her place on Edward's chest, Lenora shot Alice a wicked grin. "She reminds me of a bride Jasper and I shared once." Leaning down, she ran her tongue around the shell of Edward's ear, holding him even tighter when violently thrashed beneath her. "Virgins always taste better," she purred.

"Just do it, Jasper," Silas urged. "It'll be like riding a bicycle." In the blink of an eye, his tone changed from magnetic to malicious. "You won't be able to hold out for long. Everyone knows it. Look at them scrambling to stop you. If they believed in you at all, they'd let you be."

Carlisle took his hand off Jasper's arm. "I trust you," he said, taking a step back. "Trust yourself now. Prove him wrong."

Lenora snorted delicately. "If your so-called father is always this preachy, Edward, no wonder you've got so much..." Her hand trailed down his stomach and below his belt. "...energy that you're holding back." She lowered her lips to his. "We'll have to see if we can do something about that..."

If Jasper hadn't been so intensely focused on the most important battle of his life...the war with himself...he would have been shocked by the sudden force of Alice's rage. With a deep growl that belied her tiny figure, Alice threw herself at Lenora, teeth bared. The sudden attack caught Lenora off guard; the full weight of Alice's body slammed into her, knocking her off Edward. The two women landed on the cold, wet cavern floor as Edward sat up, rubbing his jaw.

"Get your filthy hands off my brother!" Alice snarled, grabbing a fist full of Lenora's hair and pulling hard enough to rip it out. "And don't ever..." She yanked even harder. "..e_ver_ so much as even think about Jasper again! He is not who you remember!"

Despite having Alice's fingers tangled in her hair, Lenora managed to get the smaller girl underneath her. She drew her hand back, preparing to strike Alice, but Edward caught her wrist before she could deliver the slap. With a sickening crunch of bone, he twisted her arm back far enough to snap it in half at the elbow joint.

Screaming wildly, Lenora staggered to her feet, her broken arm dangling limply at her side as she feebly clutched it with her good hand. As Edward helped Alice up, Lenora screamed at her, "Wise up, little girl! He will always be a killer! You can't cure him and you can't put him in a cage and you're a silly fool if you ever thought he'd change just for you!" Her blood-colored eyes burned with rage and pain. "Tell her, Jasper! You know it...you can't say it on your own, but it's there, in your head. Every day is hell for you...worse than any war ever could be! And you hate it! You want to give in so badly...you want to lose yourself in the kill and never..."

"No...I don't." Slowly, like any sudden movement would be his undoing, Jasper turned his head to coldly stare at Lenora. "I made this choice. She didn't make it for me. And my days might be harder now, but unlike the ones I spent with you and Maria, I'm grateful to be living them."

Silas laughed. "Oh, he has been with you for too long already, Carlisle. He's starting to sound just like you."

Carlisle's eyes narrowed. "He's a good man. And that's his own doing."

Jasper glanced at Carlisle. "I'm not as good as you think I am." Like a snake striking without warning, Jasper planted his fist in Silas' face, sending the older man flying backwards from the sheer force of the blow. He hit the hard cavern wall and slumped to the ground as Jasper took a big step away from Linda. "But I'm learning."

* * *

With a piece of Carlisle's shirt wrapped around Linda's hand, blocking the scent of her blood, Jasper let himself seek out the comfort of Alice's embrace. He had every intention of engulfing her in his arms, but when he reached her, his legs gave out from under him and he landed on his knees in front of her. Grasping her waist with one hand, he pulled her towards him until he could bury his face in the bodice of her dress. She let him stay like that for several minutes as she combed her fingers through his mane of tangled blonde waves, whispering his name softly.

No one noticed Marjorie watching them with tears in her eyes.

After tending to Linda, Carlisle looked the shivering, traumatized humans over for any other wounds. Finding none, he urged them to their feet. "You've all seen some things here that you were never meant to see," he told them. "What you choose to do with your new knowledge of the world is entirely up to you, but I would recommend..." He glanced at Lenora, cradling her arm, and Silas, still picking himself up off the ground. "Try to forget. It won't be easy, I know, but believe me, it's the best..."

"Johnny, don't do it!" Edward's sharp command had everyone, even Alice and Jasper, turning their heads to look at the boy they'd all forgotten. Edward slowly walked to the boy and crouched down, putting them at eye level. "You really don't want to do that," he told the boy.

Johnny's small face was twisted into a mask of confused rage. "You can't tell me what to do!" he childishly retorted. "I'm not a little kid anymore."

"No," Edward agreed. "Not really. But you see...if you hurt my father, I'm going to have to fight you. And I'm a lot bigger than you."

"Your father?" Johnny sniffed.

Edward nodded. "I know what you're thinking. You want to defend him." He glanced at Carlisle. "Make him proud of you." Looking back at Johnny, he continued, "But even fathers have to earn their son's respect. Really ask yourself...what has Silas done to be worthy of your loyalty?"

A minute dragged by as the small boy who should have been out playing catch in his yard, dreaming about being a professional baseball player when he grew up, considered Edward's words. "I don't know," he finally said, running the back of his hand under his nose.

Silas glared at Edward. "You think you can turn him against me?"

"I think you've already done that yourself," Carlisle told him. He turned back to the humans. "We're going to get you out of here and get you back to your families." His smile was calm and reassuring. "You're going to be just fine and..."

Once again, he was cut off, but this time by simultaneous gasps from Johnny and Alice. Jasper shot to his feet. "Alice? What is it?"

"Feet gliding over snow," she whispered.

Johnny blinked. "Five of them. Some are very old."

"They've traveled a long way." Alice's eyes were far away as she drew in a sharp gasp. "For a long time."

"Who, Alice?" Jasper asked, gently grasping her shoulders. "Who do you see?"

Frowning, Johnny added, "They have weird names. Afton. Demetri. Santiago."

It was enough for Carlisle. His pale face turned chalk-white and his eyes grew wide. "Oh, god help us," he murmured, pressing his palms together at his mouth. "Please."

Edward watched him intently. "You know who they are?" A second later, he heard the word in his father's thoughts. "No, it can't be..."

The smirk on Silas's face had disappeared, replaced now by a nervous twitch. "Carlisle?"

"We have to get them out of here." Carlisle frantically gestured to the humans. "Now!" He took a deep breath to calm himself. "The Volturi are coming."

Alice slowly shook her head. "No. The Volturi are here."

* * *

To Be Continued

To see a picture of Johnny, go here: http : / img . photobucket . com / albums / v510 / belismakr / johnny . jpg


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: Once again, I have to shower mad props on my beta, Lisa, who asks the hard questions and isn't afraid to tell me when something's not clear and needs work. And thank all of you so much for your amazing reviews. Seriously, I can't remember ever getting such detailed comments; they mean so much to me. Thank you.

I know this chapter is a little shorter than the others, but I felt like it broke off at a very natural spot. And for anyone who's wondered, yes, I do love the cliffhangers. Possibly too much. Enjoy!

* * *

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?

by Kristen Elizabeth

* * *

"Listen to me very carefully." Carlisle's voice cut through the silence that had fallen over the cave as he addressed Alice, Edward and Jasper. "If we don't get these people out of here, they are going to die."

"But they're innocent!" Alice protested. "They have nothing to do with any of this."

"The Volturi won't see it that way," Jasper said, taking Alice's hand in his. "All they'll see is a threat to our anonymity that needs to be eliminated."

"Yeah, that and an Immortal Child," Edward muttered. "Damn him," he swore, glaring at Silas. "He could get us all killed for that."

Carlisle nodded absently. "I'll do what I can, use whatever influence I might have left with them to argue Johnny's case, but you three have to take them..." He glanced at the silent, traumatized group of humans. "...and get as far away as possible."

"No." Edward vehemently shook his head. "I'm not leaving you alone to face them."

"I don't believe I offered you a choice." Carlisle frowned at his son. "Take them and run."

Edward's eyes burned like molten gold. "And how am I supposed to live with Esme for the next hundred years if she knows I left you here to die?"

For a moment, it looked as though Carlisle might give in, but just as quickly as a shadow fell across his handsome face, it was replaced with raw determination. "Jasper, do whatever you have to do to get Alice and Edward away from here."

"You can't be serious!" Edward thundered.

Carlisle ignored him. "I'll stay here to buy you some time, but you have to go now. There is no better tracker than Demetri; why do you think they haven't run yet?" he asked, jerking a thumb at Silas and Lenora. "If he picks up your trail…" He let the words go unspoken. "Understand?"

Jasper exchanged a look with Alice. "If it comes down to a battle, you'll need us," he told the older man.

"I can only hope that it won't." Carlisle pushed a hand through his hair frantically. "They'll be here any moment!" He lowered his voice, for Jasper's ears only. "I have done everything in my power to keep Edward a secret and I'm not about to let Aro know about him now. Or Alice, for that matter. Or even you, Jasper, although...I wonder..." Shaking his head, he grasped Jasper's shoulder. "I trusted you. Now I'm asking you to trust me. Get them and yourself out of here."

After a long second, Jasper lowered his chin in agreement.

Edward balled up his fists. "I'm not going anywhere without a fight," he swore.

Alice gripped Jasper's hand tighter. "It's too late!" She put her other hand to her mouth. "They're at the cliff!"

Across the cavern, Silas began to chuckle, a maniacal sound that put everyone even more on edge. "We're trapped," he laughed. "Like lambs to the slaughter. Fish in a barrel." He rolled his head back and forth. "There's nowhere to run now..."

"That's not true." All eyes turned to Marjorie as she stepped out of the shadows. There were dark circles under her wet eyes; she hugged her arms around her ample chest for warmth. "I heard him say once...there's another way out." She pointed to the back of the cave. "Just keep going and eventually you come out in the woods."

Carlisle nodded firmly. "Good. That's good." He ignored Edward's furious look of betrayal and gestured for everyone to start moving. "Go! Quickly!" The humans might have been scared, but they weren't stupid; they immediately headed further into the dark depths of the cave.

When they were far enough away, Carlisle looked back at his children. "They'll all fit into that truck we saw topside; that's their best means of escape. The three of you...just run. Don't look back; don't stop. Get to the house as fast as you can and get the others ready to leave. Esme will know what to do. Tell her that if…" He corrected himself. "…when I can, I'll find you, wherever you go."

"This is crazy," Edward fumed. "You know what's going to happen to them, Carlisle."

"What's going to happen to us?" Johnny asked his red eyes wide and worried.

Still cradling her arm, Lenora spat out, "They're leaving us behind to fight alone. They're cowards!"

"Aren't you tired of fighting, Lenora?" Jasper quietly asked.

"Thanks to you...it's all I've ever known."

"Jazz." Alice reached up to touch her lover's pale, scarred cheek. "They're at the pond."

Turning away from Lenora and all the unwanted memories she invoked, Jasper looked at Edward. "Are you going to make this easy or hard?"

"Son..." Carlisle murmured. "Please go."

Edward cursed under his breath, but began backing up towards the rear of the cave. At the last second, he turned around and pointed at his father. "This won't be the last time we see you."

Carlisle smiled tightly. "Not if I can help it."

Hand in hand with Jasper, Alice started to follow Edward, but stopped short when they reached Marjorie. "Are you coming with us?" she asked the girl.

Marjorie blinked. "You're not leaving me here, too?"

Alice's hard expression softened. "No." She looked at Carlisle who smiled and nodded. "Come on," she whispered.

Carlisle watched his children and Marjorie until they were completely swallowed by the shadows.

"You could have gone with them," Silas told him a moment later. "I would have."

Looking back at him, Carlisle merely asked, "When have I ever taken the path of least resistance, old friend?"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a sudden chill swept through the already-cold cavern.

"They're here," Lenora whispered.

Lifting his chin, Carlisle turned to face the mouth of the cave.

They entered shrouded in an unearthly mist. Five, just as Johnny had seen, although their faces were hidden in the depths of their dark grey hooded robes. It was only when they came to stop, standing in a precise V-pattern that the smallest figure, clearly the leader, pushed her hood back to reveal her tiny, perfect features.

"Hello, Jane."

"Carlisle." Her smile was as sharp as her teeth. "Aro always said we'd see you again someday, although he never expected it would be under these circumstances." She turned her head towards Silas, disgust in her tone. "With company such as this."

Silas tipped an imaginary hat in her direction. "I've missed you, too, little one."

Jane's eyes grew narrow. "He won't like to hear of your alliance."

Carlisle opened his mouth to correct her, but Silas cut him off. "Alliance? With this...animal-drinker?" He threw his head back and laughed. "Do you really think Saint Carlisle would ever stand up to your master?"

"I think we've been surprised before," Jane replied mildly.

"Well, no surprises here." Silas spread his arms dramatically. "What you've come for...whatever the reason might be...I give you my word that our old, misguided friend has nothing to do with it."

The tall, lean figure to the left of Jane stepped forward. "Then why is he here?"

"A very good question, Demetri, without, I'm afraid, an interesting answer." Silas glanced at Carlisle who was staring at him, thoroughly surprised. "He came to stop me. Nothing more, nothing less."

"It would seem he didn't stop you in time." Mist curled around the hem of Jane's robe as she moved towards Johnny. Although she was only an inch or two taller than him, Johnny shrank back from her piercing stare. "Do you know why we've come?" she asked him.

He shook his head.

She reached for his cheek. "Are you afraid?"

"Jane, he didn't ask for what happened to him," Carlisle reminded her. "Why should he be punished for it?"

"Because," she calmly replied. "Life is rarely kind and never fair. Isn't that right, Silas?"

Silas's smile faded. "Yes, I would know, wouldn't I? I learned that lesson cruelly and I've never forgotten it."

The figure standing next to Demetri lifted his head only enough to stifle a faked yawn. "Oh, it was so nice to go two hundred years without having to be constantly reminded of all that…unpleasantness."

"Was it you, Afton?" Silas thrust an accusing finger at him. "Did you kill my Cecily?"

"I wish I had," Afton sighed. "But it wasn't me. It wasn't any of us."

"Quite frankly, does it even matter what happened to her?" Jane asked, suddenly bored. "She wasn't worth the problems she would have caused."

But after two centuries, Silas wasn't about to let it go that easily. "Problems? I loved her!" he cried. "From the moment I saw her, she became my life!" He went on, speaking mostly to himself. "I should have changed her that night, but no...he said to wait...make her trust us before we turned her. Make certain her loyalties would be to us once she changed." Silas shook his head wildly. "It was all a lie."

"No, he wanted her," Carlisle assured him. "Aro didn't kill Cecily, Silas. He never would have wasted a gift such as hers."

Jane shot him an approving glance. "You always knew him so well. You know, every few decades, he thinks about you."

"I'm honored," Carlisle said in a tone that wasn't quite dry, but wasn't entirely sincere.

"You should be."

"I have waited two hundred years for justice to be served!" Silas growled, demanding everyone's attention once again. "Her death will be aven..."

With a mere tilt of Jane's head, Silas fell to the cavern floor, writhing in agony.

Carlisle ran his hand down his chin. "Hasn't he suffered enough, Jane?"

"Don't let your compassion blind you, Carlisle," she snapped. "He's made an Immortal Child. Surely even you consider that an unforgivable sin." She moved closer to the victim of her agonizing illusion of pain. Bending down, she whispered to him, "I know who killed your precious Cecily."

"Please..." Silas begged. It wasn't clear if he was begging for answers or pleading for the torture to end.

Jane's smile was frightening. "I'd have liked to have done it myself. I hated the way he looked at her, too. She would have become his pride and joy, perhaps even his occasional lover." She lowered her voice. "So if you wanted to find her killer, you needn't have looked any further than Aro's bedchamber."

"Sulpicia," Carlisle sighed as if he should have known all along.

"Never underestimate the jealousy of a woman, even if it is irrational." Silas's body went still; he lay on the ground, shaking from the mental trauma and the shock of learning that his friend's wife had been responsible for the death of his true love. Jane straightened up. "Now…wouldn't you have rather never known?"

Silas softly moaned, "Cecily..."

Jane stepped over his body and approached Lenora. "And now we come to you." She studied the woman's scowl for a long moment. "Our paths have crossed before, I believe."

"Yes." Lenora's body was taut with rage. "You killed my sister."

"Really?" Jane smiled wickedly. "Are you sure?"

"Have you started to forget the people you've killed?" Lenora hissed.

Jane lifted her shoulders in innocent affirmation. "Guilty. But I do remember the ones who got away. And the ones we spared. There's so few of them."

Lenora's glare faltered. "What does that mean?"

Instead of replying, Jane glanced back at her companions. The last robed figure on the left stepped forward and shook her hood back. Her face, almost a copy of Lenora's, was fixed in a mask of cool detachment.

"Renata!"

At Lenora's shocked cry, Aro's shield shook her head sadly. "What have you done, sister?"

* * *

To Be Continued


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: Thanks so much to Lisa for all of her help;) And, as always, thank you for the incredibly kind feedback! Enjoy!

* * *

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?

by Kristen Elizabeth

* * *

True to Marjorie's word, the steep and narrow path through the cavern opened up in the middle of the woods, almost half a mile away from the cliff. The weather had taken a turn for the worse while they were underground; storm clouds darkened the sky to a mottled grey and a biting rain that wasn't quite snow soaked them within minutes.

Edward retrieved the truck and they sent the humans, except for Marjorie, off in the general direction of the nearest road. Alice watched the truck until it disappeared into the winter forest. "I don't see any of them talking about this to anyone. They want to forget it. Just like they were told to."

"We'll still have to move," Edward said numbly. "I didn't recognize any of them from town, but Carlisle won't..." His throat closed up. "Carlisle won't take the risk."

Standing behind Alice, Jasper folded his arms around her body and drew her back against his chest, as if trying to keep her warm. "If anyone can walk away from the Volturi, it's him."

Edward turned his head towards the last remaining human, the girl who had started everything. "He shouldn't be in there. None of us should be here."

Marjorie squirmed under the power of Edward's glare. "I'm sorry," she whispered between chattering teeth. "I didn't know...it would go this far." Her plump face screwed up and tears collected in the corners of her eyes. "I just don't want to die, Alice."

"I can't tell you that it's all right." Jasper tightened his arms around Alice and she sighed. Forgiveness seemed easier when he was with her. "I don't remember being afraid of death, so I also can't say what lengths I would have gone to in order to avoid it." She paused. "I can't judge you for what you did, Marjorie. If that helps."

"I can," Edward snapped. "I remember dying. I remember lying in that hospital bed, trying to force my lungs to work, knowing in the back of my mind that they were going to stop soon." He took a step towards Marjorie. "I wasn't going to make it to eighteen, but I never would have traded someone else's life in order to save my own."

The girl rubbed at her cheeks with the back of her hand. "That's not what I did," she feebly argued.

"The hell it isn't!" Too angry to worry about manners or cursing in the presence of women, Edward grabbed her shoulder. "What did you think was going to happen? If we'd agreed to go along with Silas and his insanity, did you think the Volturi would just throw up their hands and let us take over? Are you that naive or did Silas leave out a few steps in his master plan, specifically the part where we're outnumbered and then executed?"

"You all can't die!" Marjorie insisted. "You live forever!"

Edward snarled, "You don't know anything about..."

Jasper held up his hand to stop him. "We can die," he told Marjorie. "It's not easy to kill us, but it can be done."

"Did he tell you that they'd just imprison us if we failed?" Alice asked softly.

With fresh tears on her cheeks, Marjorie shook her head. "He said we wouldn't fail."

"He lied." Edward let go of her shoulder like she was poisonous. "And Carlisle could end up paying for your stupidity."

_Edward._ Alice shook her head ever so slightly. _I know you're scared. I am, too. But she's not lying. You have to be able to see that in her thoughts. _

Her brother plunged a hand through his bronze locks, all the answer Alice needed. With worried eyes, Edward looked back towards the cave.

"We should do what he told us to do," Jasper said, breaking the silence. "Get back to the house."

Edward lifted his chin. "I'm not leaving."

"It's what Carlisle wanted," Jasper reminded him.

"Stop talking about him like he's already gone," Edward hissed.

"Stop acting like your presence is all that's standing between him and death," Jasper shot back.

Edward took a step towards him, but stopped when Alice, a small, but formidable shield between them, shook her head at him. "Why not, Alice?" Edward asked, replying to the unspoken command he read not in her thoughts, but in her eyes. "He'd go back if it was us."

"We're not going back," Alice said quietly, but firmly. "Nothing good would happen if we did."

Jasper murmured in her ear, "You've looked ahead?"

"Enough to know that much." She turned around in his arms and looked up at him. "Carlisle's made up his mind to come back to us. So...we just have to trust that he can make it through this. He's earned that, hasn't he?"

"Yes." Alice closed her eyes as Jasper kissed her forehead. "He has."

Edward swore under his breath, but when Jasper flung Alice onto his back and began to run, he grabbed Marjorie's arm and followed suit, catching up to them only seconds later, despite his heavier load.

"I hate this," he yelled over the biting wind.

Alice tightened her arms around Jasper's neck and nestled her cheek against the collar of his shirt. "It's going to be all right," she heard Jasper tell him. She closed her eyes and let the wave of calm her lover projected wash over her. "Everything will be all right."

* * *

"Renata?" Lenora's perpetually pale face seemed even whiter as she stared at the cloaked figure in front of her. "You're not...you're not dead."

Her sister's lips twisted into something resembling a smile. "At least not any more so than I was the last time we saw each other," she corrected her sister.

"I don't understand," Lenora whispered. "You've been alive all this time?" Renata said nothing. "All this time," she repeated. "And you never...never looked for me, to tell me..."

"For a long time, I couldn't," Renata told her. "And then when I could..." She stopped, her dark red eyes narrowing. "I didn't want to."

"What do you mean?" Lenora took a step forward. "I'm your sister."

"Yes. You were."

"Were?"

Renata's voice trembled with anger. "You were supposed to start over again. Jasper had left us. Maria wasn't there. Everyone else was dead. And I made it possible for you to get away." On the ground a few feet away, Silas grew still. "How do you think you escaped?" Renata spat. "I let you! I shielded you, made everyone forget you just long enough for you to run."

Lenora shook her head. "You're a shield?"

"If she wasn't, neither of you would be here," Jane interjected. "Her gift saved you both. Aro was quite pleased that instead of killing her, I brought her home with me." She smiled, still basking in the memory of his praise seventy years later.

"I gave you a second chance." Renata gestured around the cave. "And just look what you've done with it."

"For you." Blinking, Lenora reached for her sister's hand. "Everything I've done, I did for you! To make them pay!"

Renata chuckled as she tucked her hands deep into the folds of her robe. "Do I look like I need to be avenged?"

"You're my sister." Her eyes, though wide and sad, were not capable of producing the tears she needed to shed. "You're still my sister."

"Maybe," Renata admitted. "But I have new loyalties now." Ignoring the devastated look on Lenora's face, she sighed. "If you'd just stayed out of trouble, none of this would be necessary."

Carlisle stepped forward. "Perhaps none of it is necessary." He glanced down at Silas. "Their plan has failed. And although they did turn a child, I can personally vouch for Johnny's ability to control himself. He kept watch over a group of humans for several days without feeding. That's more than many of us are capable of."

"Those humans were to be an army that he would use to try to overthrow us," Jane snapped. "He never would have stood a chance of succeeding, but it's still not something we take lightly."

"If Aro is so convinced that I'm no threat to his autocracy, why didn't he come here himself?" Silas sat up on the cold, wet cavern floor. "Why didn't he face me personally?"

"You don't matter enough for him to have made the trip," Jane replied coolly.

Silas nodded. "Cowards always send their flunkies to do the dirty work." He looked down at his hands, his hair falling around his face, hiding it from view. "So...what happens now?"

"I think you know," Afton said, still bored.

Carlisle frowned. "Please at least consider..."

Jane's words were sharp enough to cut steel. "Be a saint, Carlisle. Not a martyr."

"Johnny has a talent!" Carlisle turned to Silas, expectantly. "Tell them what he can do for Aro!"

Whether it was to keep Aro from having yet another ace up his sleeve or just because he couldn't even muster the strength to try to save himself, much less the boy he'd doomed, Silas said nothing.

Carlisle glanced at the immortal child; he was frozen with fear, not completely understanding what was going on, but knowing deep down that he was in danger. "It doesn't have to always end like this, Jane. I can take Johnny. I'll personally see that he..."

Jane pointed to the entrance to the cave. "This is your last chance. Walk away and don't look back."

When he looked at the hooded figures of the Volturi, all Carlisle could see were the faces he loved. Esme, Edward, Rosalie, Emmett...and now Alice and Jasper. People who depended on him. His family. His life.

Upon looking back at Silas, he saw his old friend shaking his head. "Go," he told Carlisle dully. He attempted his old, slick smile, but it fell desperately short of the mark. "You know I would."

No path had ever seemed longer or harder to walk than the short distance to the cavern's mouth. The light from the outside world hit Carlisle at the exact same moment as Johnny's piercing, soul-shattering scream.

Without letting himself think or feel or mourn, he began to run home.

* * *

"It's sunset."

As they were the first words Esme had spoken in hours, both Rosalie and Emmett looked at her and then each other in surprise. Closing up the book she hadn't really been reading, Rosalie stood from the sofa and walked to the window where Esme was seated, staring out at the empty woods.

Kneeling down beside Esme's chair, Rosalie covered her mother's cold hand with her own. "We should hunt tonight," she said firmly, but not unkindly. "We all need to. Right, Emmett?"

Her husband ran his hands through his curls a couple of times before joining them at the window. "Sure," he agreed, trying to keep his tone light when all he really wanted to do was uproot a few dozen trees until the pressure that had been building in his chest ever since Carlisle told him to stay behind with the women subsided. "I'll share a bear with you, Mom. We'll wake one up and have a feast!"

That usually worked, but instead of putting a smile on her beautiful face, Esme merely closed her eyes like she no longer had the willpower to keep them open. "Where are they?" she whispered. "I can always feel them even when we're apart." Her long eyelashes lifted as she put a hand to the pearls at her throat. "I don't feel anything."

Catching Emmett's eye, Rosalie nodded her head in what she thought was an obvious indicator that he needed to say something comforting to their mother. He shook his own head, confused, and she rolled her eyes. It was only when she blatantly gestured at Esme's paler-than-usual skin and the dark purple shadows under her eyes that he caught on. "Carlisle wouldn't want you to worry," Emmett blurted out. "So...you know...you shouldn't."

"My husband and three of my children are out there somewhere, facing goodness only knows what kind of dangers." Esme shook her head numbly. "He'd never expect me not to worry."

"But he would expect you to take care of yourself," Rosalie reminded her, reaching around the chair to pinch her husband's arm. "Come on, Mother. Please?"

Esme turned her head to look at her first daughter. After a moment, she reached out and touched one of her blonde curls. "Children aren't supposed to look after their parents."

"Until they're old and gray," Rosalie corrected her. "Which you never will be."

"No," Esme agreed, letting her hand drop back into her lap. "That's true." She paused. "He gave me that."

Worry crept over Rosalie's perfect face. "Even if you don't want to hunt, you need to at least go out for a walk. The fresh air will do you good." She stood up and Emmett followed suit. Adopting her best haughty tone, Rosalie continued, "Unless you want Emmett to carry you out the door, you need to get up and..."

They all heard footsteps crunch through the snow-covered stone steps moments before the front door was flung open. Esme was on her feet instantly, tearing out of the living room in a blur of floral print skirts and caramel colored hair, with Emmett and Rosalie on her heels.

Alice and Jasper entered first, hand in hand, followed a moment later by Edward who was carrying an unconscious Marjorie.

Esme put her hand to her mouth. "Edward!" She ran to her son and cupped his face in her hands, looking him all over for injuries. "Thank god you're all right." She looked at Alice and Jasper before reaching out a hand to them which Alice gladly took. "All of you." But a cloud settled over Esme's momentarily joyful expression. "Where's Carlisle?" When they averted their eyes, she turned back to her son. "Edward? Where is he?"

Edward swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing heavily. "I didn't want to leave him." He forced the words out like they hurt. "He wouldn't let me stay behind."

"Stay behind?" Esme repeated. "Stay behind where?" When no one answered, her worry gave way to panic. "Is he all right? Is he hurt? Does he need me?" Without waiting any longer for answers no one was willing to give her, she started out the door and was only stopped by Jasper gently grabbing her shoulders and holding her back. "I have to go to him! Let me go...to..." Her words slowed; her body went limp in her newest son's arms. "Carlisle..." she murmured as she slipped into induced calm.

"Was that really necessary?" Rosalie asked Jasper. He merely gave her a long look.

"What's happened to Carlisle?" Emmett demanded. "He's not...?"

"No," Alice said with soft assurance. "He's not."

Rosalie snorted delicately. "Are you fixed now? Seeing things again, dear?"

"You have every right to be mad at me, Rose. I should have listened to you and I'm so sorry that I didn't." Alice looked the taller girl in the eye. "But I hope you can forgive me someday."

A moment passed before Rosalie sighed. "I suppose I'll have to. After all..." She lifted her shoulder. "You are my sister."

Biting her lip to hold back a smile, Alice nodded. "Yes. My sis..." She stopped short, frozen by an image of the future. She whipped her head around, scanning the line of trees just past the driveway, searching for something.

Still holding Marjorie, Edward stepped towards her, having seen what she saw in her thoughts. "Alice, are you sure?"

She didn't need to answer. A few seconds later, a figure appeared out of the forest.

Even through the fog of calm Jasper had weaved around her mind, despite the distance still between them, Esme recognized him. Jasper stepped back, allowing her to run into her husband's arms.

* * *

To Be Continued

To see Esme's dress, go to http : / img . photobucket . com / albums / v510 / belismakr / esme_dress . jpg


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: An unforgivable amount of time has passed since I updated this story. Seriously, I would not be surprised if it's been totally forgotten. But on the off chance that someone out there has been waiting for the final chapters, here's the first of the final two. I hope you enjoy! And thank you for stopping by;)

* * *

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?

by Kristen Elizabeth

* * *

"She's asleep." Esme entered the living room and immediately went to Carlisle's side. When he put his arm around her and kissed her temple, she leaned into him with a sigh. "I put her in our room for the time being."

Across the room, Alice looked down at the black Capri pants she'd changed into, having thrown away her ruined dress. "She barely ate anything and I don't think it was a comment on your cooking."

Rosalie made a face, recalling the scent of the meal Esme had put together for their human guest. "Why do we even have canned vegetables in this house?"

Her comment went ignored as Carlisle shook his head sadly. "If she can't keep anything down, I'll go to the hospital and bring back a portable IV. The last thing the child needs is to become dehydrated while her body's trying to fight off the cancer."

With Alice curled up on his lap, Jasper was almost too content with the world to ask the question that no one wanted to, yet he found himself speaking up a second later. "What are we going to do about her?"

"She wants to be changed," Alice said softly.

"Yeah, we got that." Sprawled across half of an entire couch, leaving only enough room for his wife on the very edge, Emmett looked to Carlisle. "We at least gonna vote or something?"

"Vote?" Edward threw his brother a scathing look. "That's ridiculous. There's nothing to vote on."

Emmett shrugged. "We're just gonna let her die then? Don't get me wrong," he went on a second later. "I'm not against it as a plan. Girl's made things awful interesting around here the past few days, and not in a good way. I'm not entirely sure I want to call her my sister for the next couple of centuries."

"I sure as hell don't," Rosalie seconded.

Alice frowned at her sister. "If you can forgive me, maybe you can think about doing the same for her."

"Why? Just because she's dying?" Rosalie shook her head, blonde curls bouncing. "It doesn't erase everything she did, Alice."

"No," Alice agreed. "But it at least makes it more understandable."

Jasper rested his chin on the top of her dark hair. "No one ever really wants to die."

"It's true," Esme murmured. "Even if you think you do...at the very last moment, probably when it's too late, you realize how much you want to live." Lost in a hazy memory, she barely felt Carlisle holding her even tighter. "And you'd do anything for a second chance."

There was a long, reverent pause before Jasper added, "But we can't save everyone who's dying."

"That's just it. She is sick," Edward reminded everyone. "She's not dead yet."

"I agree," Carlisle said. "We're getting ahead of ourselves. Now is not necessarily the time to discuss a solution as permanent as..." He gestured at the immortal bodies of himself and his family. "...this."

"When will be the right time?" Marjorie's weak voice startled them all; seven heads whipped around to see her standing at the entrance to the living room, clutching a hand-sewn quilt around her shoulders. "I just...how close do I have to be? Days?" A tear trickled down her cheek which she didn't bother to wipe away. "Seconds?"

Esme retrieved a handkerchief from her pocketbook and handed it to the girl. "You should be sleeping," she told her. "You need as much rest as possible."

"I'm really grateful for everything you're doing for me," Marjorie whispered. "But I can't sleep. I can't eat. Sometimes I feel like I can't even breathe." She blotted her cheeks with the rose-scented linen. "See? I'm practically one of you already."

Emmett snorted in mild amusement at this, earning him a sharp look from his wife.

"You don't even really understand what you're asking for," Edward said coldly. "You should, but you don't."

"Edward, I don't think..."

He cut his father off as he moved away from the window, advancing on Marjorie. "All you see when you look at us is our beautiful faces, our indestructible bodies, our expensive cars, our big house. You either don't see, or you don't want to see the other side of being us. The thirst, that urge that's inside of us all day, every day, every year, every century, that tells us to kill...kill and drink. But it's never sated! It never goes away! If you give in to it, you'll just want more. More blood, more victims...and before you know it, you can't look in a mirror because the only thing that looks back at you is a monster." Edward stared down at her, not surprised when she looked away from the blazing intensity in his golden eyes. "That's what you're ultimately asking for. To be a monster. You'll live forever, sure, but what kind of a life will it be?"

Majorie's eyes shimmered. "I don't get how you can be so beautiful and still hate yourself so much."

Edward just looked away.

After a moment of silence, Carlisle cleared his throat. "Marjorie, I can't be absolutely certain having never seen your medical records, but there are incredible advances being made in the field of cancer treatment. I know one doctor in Boston who is experimenting with radiation therapy. I realize that sounds frightening, but I believe I could get you into his program." He paused. "Your life isn't over, dear."

"Don't be so quick to throw it away," Rosalie added, folding her arms tightly across the bodice of her dress.

Staring down at the fine white linen of Esme's handkerchief in her hands, Marjorie shook her head. "Radiation therapy? That would mean more doctors and needles, right?" She looked up at Carlisle. He inclined his head. "And you can't even say for sure that any of it would work."

"I can't say for sure that it wouldn't, either."

"Needles...and hospitals." The girl's hands trembled. "So much for dancing," she mumbled.

"Dancing?" Esme asked.

Defeated, Marjorie lifted her shoulder. "The Winter Formal. Silas said he'd take me after he...you know...changed me." She snorted at own naivety. "I was going to walk into that dance looking prettier than anyone else." Rosalie raised an eyebrow, but Marjorie didn't notice. "It was a stupid idea," the girl concluded. "Me at the dance. With a date. Stupid."

"No, it wasn't stupid. Not at all." Alice looked at her brother. _Edward? _

His strong jaw clenched, an unspoken "No!" if ever she'd seen one.

_It would mean so much to her, though! _

Edward's eyes thinned.

_It's one night. Just one out of the thousands we'll have that she'll never get to see._

He lifted his chin stubbornly.

Unaware of the silent exchange taking place, Esme reached for Marjorie's hand. "You really ought to go back upstairs and rest, dear."

"Thank you," Marjorie whispered. "But I think I'll get plenty of rest when I'm stuck back in the hospital."

_I'm not asking you to marry her, Edward. Just do this one really nice thing for her._

He cleared his throat.

_Okay, maybe she doesn't deserve it. Maybe this is the worst idea I've ever had. But it just seems that if we can't save her life in the way she wants us to, we could at least give her a night worth living._ Alice's lower lip poked out. _If not for her, would you do it for me? _

Edward sighed loudly, interrupting Esme as she tried to persuade Marjorie to at least lie down on the couch. With everyone looking at him, he frowned, but said, in a strained voice, "Marjorie. I should like it very much..." He shot Alice a quick, deadly glare before turning back to the surprised girl. "...if you'd allow me to escort you to the Winter Formal."

* * *

"I don't think I'm doing this right."

Alice turned away from her reflection in the mirror and watched Jasper fumble with the ends of the black bowtie looped around his collar. "Do you want some help?" she eventually asked.

Jasper gave up with a sigh. "You know how to tie these things?"

"No," she admitted, looking back at the mirror in order to brush her cheeks with a final touch of rouge. "But I'm sure Carlisle does."

Mumbling something that sounded like "Last resort," Jasper started over. By the time Alice was through with her makeup, he had wrangled the tie into something resembling a bow. Alice put her gloved hand to her mouth in silent amusement. "Are you laughing at me?" he asked mildly.

"Perhaps," she admitted. "Even so..." Alice looked him up and down with critical eye. "You clean up rather nicely, Jasper Whitlock."

"The last dance I attended was an officer's ball in '61," Jasper said. "I have a feeling this Winter Formal will be a little bit different."

Alice nodded. "Yes, much less Virginia Reel." She twirled suddenly, making the full skirt of her pink gown swirl around her legs. "Still a whole lot of crinoline."

Making Jasper laugh always made her heart burst with happiness. He caught her up in his arms and kissed her freely. "I love you, Alice."

After pressing two fingers to her lips and then placing them against his mouth, Alice slipped out of his grasp. "Come on. We should get..." She stopped when she saw worry flash across his handsome face. "Jasper?"

"Am I ready for this?" He swallowed heavily. "I know you think that what happened in the cave is a sign that I've gained control over myself, but in truth, Alice, I don't know if I..."

"Jazz." Alice threaded her delicate fingers through his rough digits. "I would never ask this of you if I didn't know you could do it."

"You've looked ahead, then? I don't..." He hesitated. "I don't kill anyone?"

Alice shook her head. "You don't want to. So you won't."

"Is it really as simple as that?"

"There's only one way to find out." Even in her heels, she was only able to kiss his cheek by standing on the tips of her toes. "Esme's waiting to take pictures downstairs."

Once again, he stopped her, but this time with a look that was almost intense enough to make her unbeating heart flutter. "When are you going to marry me, Alice?"

Her golden eyes twinkled. "When are you going to give me a ring?" Before he could reply, she shook her head. "You know I don't need a ring. I just need a time and a place."

"And a dress?" he guessed.

"Actually..." Alice winked. "I've got that covered."

* * *

The sight of the Cullens arriving at the Winter Formal decked out in designer dresses and perfectly tailored tuxedoes had the entire school buzzing from the moment they arrived at the dance. Rosalie's dramatically red gown in particular had tongues wagging, although the floating cloud of pink organdy on Alice drew more than few jealous stares. But it was Marjorie, in a lime green number from Esme's closet which had been hastily let out to fit her larger frame, who quickly became the center of attention.

There wasn't a girl in the entire gymnasium, save his own sisters, who wouldn't have gone to drastic lengths to enter the dance on Edward Cullen's arm. The fact that he'd seemingly bypassed even the most popular and beautiful options in favor of taking a date who was frumpy at best was almost too much for the female students to comprehend.

"Everyone is staring at me," Marjorie whispered.

Rosalie's hair was set in perfect curls, but she still managed to toss them back as she sneered, "Isn't that what you wanted?"

Alice released her grip on Jasper's arm long enough to give Marjorie's bare shoulder a friendly squeeze. "Ignore them. And her. Just have a good time." _Edward_, she continued silently. _Show her a good time._

Edward cleared his throat. "Do you want punch?" he asked Marjorie.

If she noticed the abruptness in his question, she ignored it as she nodded. "Yes. Thank you."

Shooting Alice a dark look, Edward led Marjorie off in the direction of the refreshment table. Emmett and Rosalie quickly disappeared in search of some shadowed, secluded spot where Emmett could show his wife exactly how much he appreciated her dress by seeing how quickly he could get his hand underneath it. Alice and Jasper were left alone on the edge of the dance floor.

His whole body was tense and Alice doubted he'd let any oxygen into his lungs from the moment they'd stepped into the crowded gym. She couldn't blame him; the scent of a couple hundred teenagers dancing was a challenge even for her.

"Jazz?" She peeked up at him, worried. "Are you all right?"

"It's..." His Adam's apple bobbed. "How do you do this every day?" he asked between his tightly clenched teeth.

"I try to picture them in fifty years, old and grey, sitting on their porches with their children and grandchildren." Alice paused. "And I think...how can I take that future away from them just to satisfy my own thirst?" Right then, a giggle couple brushed past them on their way off the dance floor. Their bodies were warm with sweat and excitement and Alice had to swallow back the venom that gathered in her mouth. "I never said it was easy," she added.

Jasper's eyes were closed and his neck muscles corded with effort as he literally strained away from the lingering smell. "You are a saint, Alice." His brow furred with self-loathing. "But I'm not. I'm not ready for..."

He stopped when Alice thread her gloved fingers through his and lifted his knuckles to her lips for a gentle kiss. When he opened his eyes, he looked down at twin pools of gold staring up with him with utter confidence.

"You're ready," she promised him. "Want to know how I know?"

"How?"

She beamed at him with enough brilliance to light up the darkest corners of his heart. "They're about to play a slow song. And you're about to ask me to dance."

True to her word, only a moment later, the brass band came to the end of a swinging fast tune with the final belting notes of a trumpet. The gym broke into light applause as the lead singer stepped up to the microphone. When his bandmates began the first slow notes of the next song, the man began singing.

_'Til the end of time, long as stars are in the blue_

_Long as there's a spring of birds to sing, I'll go on loving you_

"Alice Cullen." Accepting his fate, Jasper bowed at her. "Will you do me the honor of granting me a dance?"

"Why, Mr. Whitlock," she teased. "I think I will."

It might have been the unearthly paleness of their alabastor skin against the harsh gym lights or the fact that their clothes cost more money than some of their fellow students had ever imagined, or it might have been the way they looked at each other as if the rest of the world had fallen away, but Alice and Jasper were awarded a wide berth as they walked onto the dance floor hand in hand.

_'Til the end of time, long as roses bloom in May_

_My love for you will grow deeper with every passing day_

With her cheek snug against the lapel of Jasper's silver-grey tuxedo jacket, safe in the circle of his arms, Alice couldn't have been happier. But when she cracked one eye open and saw Edward leading Marjorie in a very stiff dance only a few yards away, her smile suddenly fell.

"She looks so happy," Alice murmured. "Even though we're not going to give her what she really wants."

"You gave her this night." When Alice tried to protest, Jasper just chuckled. "Don't tell me this was all Edward's idea."

She pouted, but eventually gave in. "Maybe I did have something to do with it." She looked at her brother and Marjorie as they moved in awkward time to the music. "I can't see her future, Jazz. But I don't see her death, either."

Jasper gently grasped her chin and brought her gaze back to him. "I love that you care so much about this girl's welfare, after everything she did to us, but please..." His eyes pleaded with her. "I need you here, to make sure I don't...do anything." He touched a dark spike of her hair. "I can't let you down, Alice."

"You won't." Rising up on the toes of her stiletto shoes, she gave him a light kiss. "You never could."

_'Til the wells run dry and each mountain disappears_

_I'll be there for you to care for you through laughter and through tears_

"I love you," Jasper said so quietly that she almost didn't hear him over the music. "Don't ever doubt that."

Laying her cheek back against his chest, Alice just smiled. "I never will."

_So take my heart in sweet surrender and tenderly say _

_that I'm the one you'll love and live for 'til the end of time._

* * *

To Be Continued


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: Well, it took over a year, but I finally finished this story. Thank you ever so much to everyone who read and reviewed; I really can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Especially you, Lisa, 'cause I know how you feel about Twilight;) Thank you again and enjoy.

* * *

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?

by Kristen Elizabeth

* * *

**1975**

The vision came to Alice as she was about to make her winning move against Edward in a chess game that had been going on all afternoon. It was a rare sunny day in Binghamton, New York, and the Cullens had confined themselves to the house until the skies clouded over once again. Emmett was watching Rosalie put the finishing touches on a '53 Cadillac she'd spent two months restoring, Jasper was engrossed in a recently released Civil War novel, "The Killer Angels," and Esme had recruited Carlisle into helping her re-paper the dining room walls, leaving Alice and Edward to their own devices.

The moment Alice touched the queen that would check his king, the image struck her like a lightning bolt.

Edward's head shot up as he caught a glimpse of the face in his sister's mind. "Alice, is that...?"

She was staring straight ahead without seeing anything except her vision. "Yes," she said, lost in the future. "It's her time." Blinking back to attention, Alice searched brother's face. _I've already seen myself going, so you'll be wasting your breath if you try to stop me._

He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his turtleneck shirt. "I can afford to waste breath. And if I were you, I'd be more concerned about Jasper stopping you."

As if on cue, Alice's husband appeared in the doorway to the den, his book in one hand. "What am I stopping my wife from doing?" he asked his brother.

Alice stood up, her bare feet lost in the full legs of her bell-bottom jeans. "I'm going on a road trip, Jazz." She looped her arm through his, plastering her tiny body against his larger frame. "Please come with me."

Jasper shot Edward a look; the younger boy just shook his head. After a quarter of a century with her, they both knew there really was no point in trying to discourage Alice after she had made up her mind.

* * *

They left early the next morning, while it was still dark, with Jasper driving his recently purchased Thunderbird. It was a short trip to Maine, but one that neither of them had made in twenty-five years. Sitting in the passenger's seat, Alice unknowingly wrung her pale hands as she stared out the window at the passing landmarks through her oversized sunglasses.

Jasper took his eyes off the road for a second to glance at her. "You don't have to do this," he reminded her.

"I think I do," she replied softly. He waited patiently for her to go on. "You know, until yesterday I just assumed she was gone. After we left Bethel Hills, I never even looked to see if I could see her." Alice bit her lip. "I abandoned her."

Jasper waited until he'd parked the car in front of the building Alice had seen in her vision before he replied. Turning off the engine, he reached for his wife's hand. "Alice..." He let out a resigned chuckle. "Only you."

She brushed her thumb over his scarred knuckles. "Do you want to come in?"

"No." Jasper lifted her hand up to his lips. "I'll wait out here."

After adjusting her head scarf and sunglasses, Alice climbed out of the low car. Jasper watched her dart up a short set of stone steps and disappear into the Bethel Hills Community Hospital.

Once inside, Alice tucked the glasses and scarf into her hand bag and smoothed down the thin pleats in the skirt of her seafoam green paisley dress. She approached the nurse's desk. "Excuse me," she addressed one white-uniformed woman. "I'm here to see a patient of yours."

"Friend or family?"

Alice blinked. "Neither. Not exactly, anyway."

Frowning, the nurse looked her up and down. "Then what are you here for, dear?"

"I don't know yet."

Ten minutes later, after convincing the woman that she meant no harm, Alice found herself lightly knocking on the door to Room 14. A tired voice called out, "Come in."

Time and ill health had not been kind to her, but Alice could still see traces of the girl she'd known in the woman who lay dying in a lonely hospital bed. When she caught sight of Alice, the woman's yellowed eyes grew wide.

"My god," she gasped. "Alice?"

"Hello, Marjorie."

Marjorie grasped the oxygen tube that fed into her nose, as if reminding herself to keep breathing. "I never...never thought I'd see..." Her weathered hands shook wildly. "Twenty-five years," she whispered. "Twenty-five years...and you haven't aged a day."

Alice's smile was sad. "Trick of the lighting."

"No, it's not." Marjorie tried to swallow, but her throat stuck and she began coughing. Spotting a cup of water, Alice took it to her, offering her the straw. As Marjorie sipped, she stared at Alice. "How did you know I was here?" she asked when she was able to talk again.

"I saw you," Alice replied carefully setting the cup aside. "I had a vision of you," she clarified.

Majorie let out a tiny whimper of fright. "Am I dying? I must be dying," she rushed on without waiting for an answer. "Today...and you've come..." Her face lit up in an expression that made Alice lower her gaze. "You've come to change me?"

"Marjorie." Alice lifted her lashes to look the woman straight in the eye. "I can't."

A shadow darkened the older woman's face. "You won't."

"I can't," Alice repeated, firmer this time. "I don't have the strength it would take to stop."

Seconds slipped by in silence until Marjorie looked away. "Had to ask," she whispered. "So, why did you come? Do they know you're here? Your family?" In a girlish gesture from the past, she reached up to tug at a thin lock of her hair, only to have the strands fall to her shoulder when she lowered her hand. "Edward?"

It was then that Alice noticed the only framed picture that sat on the table next to Marjorie's bed. It was a black and white photo of Marjorie and Edward on the night of the Winter Formal, taken by Esme and presumably passed on to Marjorie by Carlisle after he sent her to the cancer specialists in Boston. Her heart ripped in half for this girl...this woman in her forties who had spent the majority of her life in love with a memory.

"He knows." Alice gripped the metal railing that ran along the side of the bed. "But I came with Jasper."

Marjorie stared at the simple gold and diamond band on Alice's left ring finger. "You married him, then?" Alice nodded. "What did you wear?"

"Would you like to see?" When Marjorie lowered her chin, Alice reached into her pocketbook and pulled out an aging photograph taken only a few months after she'd graduated high school for the first time. She offered it to Marjorie hesitantly.

After spending a minute studying the captured image of Jasper in his black tuxedo and Alice in her pearl-beaded Givenchy as they cemented their marriage vows with a kiss, Marjorie handed it back to her. "That's the most beautiful dress I've ever seen," she mumured. Her eyelids drooped suddenly. "I'm glad...you got a happy ending."

Alice could smell the sickness in her blood now. Carlisle's colleagues might have been able to send the cancer into remission long enough to give her a chance at a real life, but their radiation therapies hadn't killed it off forever. It was back in full force and Alice suddenly realized that the rest of Marjorie's life wouldn't be measured in days, but in hours.

A tear trickled down Marjorie's cheek. Alice unconsciously reached out to brush it away. At the touch of her cold fingers, the dying woman shivered. "Will it hurt?"

"What do you mean?" Alice asked.

"Dying. Does it hurt?"

Alice could only shake her head. "I don't know. I can't remember."

Another minute passed. "Will you stay with me?"

"I will." Alice tried to smile. "It's what I came for."

* * *

It was well after dark when Alice emerged from the hospital. Inside, the nurses had already wheeled Marjorie's lifeless body down to the morgue and had started changing the sheets on her bed in preparation for their next patient.

As he'd been pretending to sleep in case anyone passed by the car, Jasper opened his eyes when she knocked on the window. He leaned across the empty passenger's side to pull up the lock. Alice gracefully slid onto the wide leather seat and closed the door behind her.

"She's gone, Jazz."

Her husband nodded slowly. "Are you all right?"

She shrugged. "You tell me."

Jasper sighed. "You're sad. And..." He frowned. "Guilty? Why? You didn't kill her, Alice."

"I didn't save her either."

"Neither did Carlisle. Or Edward. Or Silas, for that matter." He paused. "She wasn't meant to live forever."

"She was scared, Jasper," Alice whispered. "But then...right at the end...there was nothing but peace. And I couldn't help but think...that must be nice." She let that admission hang in the air between them. "But still," Alice finally continued. "I wouldn't trade a single day with you for even a moment of that peace."

Jasper pulled her closer for a long kiss. Even when he started the engine, he kept one arm around her, holding her against his side as he drove off to the haunting notes of the Peggy Lee ballad playing on the radio.

Alice tilted her head back to look up at her husband. "What _**are **_you doing the rest of your life?" she asked him, echoing the song.

Jasper answered with a smile. "Whatever you are."

* * *

Fin

To see Alice's dress, go to: http : / img . photobucket . com / albums / v510 / belismakr / 70dress5 . jpg

To hear Peggy Lee sing, go to: http : / www . youtube . com / watch?v = CcsoF1G3yAQ


End file.
